Identifying Transportation Disadvantage on a National Level and its Effects on Quality of Life.

Mitchell Barna* V. Dimitra Pyrialakou
Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Presentation Category: Engineering (Poster Presentation)

Student’s Major: Civil Engineering

Transportation disadvantage occurs when the basic needs for travel and access to opportunities of disadvantaged community members are systematically not met. We hypothesize that transportation disadvantage can negatively impact an individual’s quality of life. For this research, we completed a review of the literature surrounding transportation disadvantage, and created an index based on six indicators that have been found associated with transportation disadvantage: elderly persons, those with a disability or impairment, low-income individuals, older and low-income people forced into car ownership, and those who do not drive due to lack of a license, vehicle access, or both. We used data collected from an online nationwide transportation survey. We compared survey responses of individuals across the proposed transportation disadvantage scale, focusing on variable that capture the perceived quality of life, travel patterns, and other relevant variables. The preliminary findings show a correlation between the number of indicators associated with transportation disadvantage and the quality of life as well as the number of trips taken. More statistical analysis will be conducted to confirm these and other hypotheses.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: a West Virginia SURE program