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The Evolving and Complementary Impacts of Transportation Infrastructures on Population and Employment Change in the United States, 1970–2010

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Abstract

Transportation infrastructures play an essential role in influencing population and employment change. While railroads, highways, and airports were constructed in different time periods, now they complement each other in terms of providing accessibility. This study uses county-level data to examine the impacts of the three forms of transportation infrastructure on population and employment change in the continental United States from 1970 to 2010. The findings suggest that transportation infrastructures play evolving but complementary roles in affecting population and employment change during the study period: railroads act as a distributive factor, highways take a facilitator role, and airports behave like growth poles. Diversification of the roles indicates that transportation infrastructures have evolved from a pure growth factor to an essential multifaceted development element of human society.

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Notes

  1. Four alternative measures of railroads were calculated and tested: the total length of rail lines, the number of rail terminals, the access to the rail terminal, and the rail line density. Railroad terminal density was found to have the most statistically significant association with population and employment change.

  2. Results for other models are available upon request.

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Funding

This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (Award # 1541136), the U.S. Department of Transportation (Awards # DTRT12GUTC14-201307 and # DTRT12GUTC14-201308), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Award # P2C HD041025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Rural Studies, South Dakota State University, Scobey Hall 219E, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

    Bishal Bhakta Kasu

  2. Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Population Research Institute, and Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 112E Armsby, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Guangqing Chi

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  1. Bishal Bhakta Kasu
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  2. Guangqing Chi
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Correspondence to Guangqing Chi.

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Kasu, B.B., Chi, G. The Evolving and Complementary Impacts of Transportation Infrastructures on Population and Employment Change in the United States, 1970–2010. Popul Res Policy Rev 37, 1003–1029 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-018-9491-3

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