Morehead State University
Socio-economic Impacts of Major Transportation Corridors in Eastern Kentucky: A Comparison of ‘Corridor’ and ‘Non-corridor’ Counties over Five Decades
Institution
Morehead State University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Christine McMichael
Abstract
There is an ongoing debate in the Appalachian region regarding the social and economic impacts of major roadway (corridor) construction. For example, some research indicates that constructing major transportation corridors improves the economic conditions in surrounding counties, while other studies suggest that such corridors actually serve to weaken local and regional economic development. In an attempt to shed additional light on this issue, we examined changes in a number of key socio-economic variables over five decades for three groups of eastern Kentucky counties: (1) counties traversed by an interstate corridor, (2) counties traversed by a parkway corridor, and (3) counties lacking a major transportation corridor. County-level socio-economic data were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau for 12 counties (4 counties in each group) for each census period between 1960 (pre-construction) and 2000. Graphical analysis was used to identify and analyze trends in income, population, home ownership, travel time, employment, and industrial diversity for each group of counties. Results obtained by comparing trends between the three groups of counties were evaluated in the context of this ongoing debate, and are being used to develop a set of recommendations that will be shared with Kentucky transportation planners in the hopes of enhancing future transportation projects within the eastern Kentucky and Appalachian regions.
Socio-economic Impacts of Major Transportation Corridors in Eastern Kentucky: A Comparison of ‘Corridor’ and ‘Non-corridor’ Counties over Five Decades
There is an ongoing debate in the Appalachian region regarding the social and economic impacts of major roadway (corridor) construction. For example, some research indicates that constructing major transportation corridors improves the economic conditions in surrounding counties, while other studies suggest that such corridors actually serve to weaken local and regional economic development. In an attempt to shed additional light on this issue, we examined changes in a number of key socio-economic variables over five decades for three groups of eastern Kentucky counties: (1) counties traversed by an interstate corridor, (2) counties traversed by a parkway corridor, and (3) counties lacking a major transportation corridor. County-level socio-economic data were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau for 12 counties (4 counties in each group) for each census period between 1960 (pre-construction) and 2000. Graphical analysis was used to identify and analyze trends in income, population, home ownership, travel time, employment, and industrial diversity for each group of counties. Results obtained by comparing trends between the three groups of counties were evaluated in the context of this ongoing debate, and are being used to develop a set of recommendations that will be shared with Kentucky transportation planners in the hopes of enhancing future transportation projects within the eastern Kentucky and Appalachian regions.