Rural transportation facilities and services play a critical role in supporting both commerce and quality of life in rural America. The cost and availability of freight transportation services affects the profitability of farms and businesses that depend on those services to bring production inputs and consumer products into rural areas and to carry local products to markets. Similarly, passenger transportation services are important to mobility of rural residents to gain access to the opportunities and culture of the nation. Recent economic problems in rural communities, deregulation of transportation services, and increased responsibility of local governments for building and maintaining rural roads each have stimulated renewed concern for rural transportation issues. This book looks at both the critical problems faced by rural regions and the successful approaches that have been used to help state and local governments, as well as rural enterprises, deal with those problems. Written by professionals who are active in the field of transportation economics, and who are all at land-grant institutions, the text is based primarily on the experiences of the Cooperative Extension Services and transportation institutes affiliated with land-grant universities. After a brief overview of emerging rural transportation issues and the educational challenges associated with those issues, chapters provide a comprehensive examination of key transportation issues: provision and financing of rural roads and bridges; deregulation of agricultural transportation; evaluation of the contribution of transportation to economic development; firm level transportation management; rural passenger transportation problems and solutions; and the movement of hazardous materials. Included are several case studies of successful approaches that have been used to tackle rural transportation problems in rural areas. Providing in a single volume, for the first time, a comprehensive evaluation of rural transportation issues and potential solutions, this book is a valuable resource for educators, practitioners, and students in the field of rural transportation.

William E. Bivens, III For the first time in more than 160years, the nation's rural areas and small towns are growing faster than its metropolitan areas. The 1980Census of Population shows that the nonmetropolitan population increased by 15.4010 during the 1970s, while the metropolitan population grew by only 9.1010. During the 1960s, rural areas and small towns had lost some 2.8 million people to cities and their suburbs, but during the 1970s at least 4 million more people moved into nonmetropolitan areas than left them. This rural oriented population growth resulted from a number of factors, including a strong preference for rural and small-town living, the decentralization of manufacturing and related services,energyand other mining developments, William E. Bivens,Ill, isthe Senior Policy Fellowfor Rural Affairs ofthe National Gover nors' Association. He is a rural development generalist providing liaison between the gover nors and federal officials and performing applied policy research to support improvements in rural development programs and systems for their delivery. Mr. Bivenswas one of the designers of the Carter Administration's Small Community and Rural Development Policy and provided the implementation link involving the formation of governors' rural development councils. Mr. Bivens attended Brown University and did postgraduate work at the University of Texas, where he also taught American government and politics. xiii xiv FOREWORD and comparatively high rural birthrates along with improved infant mortal ity rates.

Many inhabitants of rural areas in developing countries lack adequate and affordable access to transport infrastructure services, and this lack of transport opportunities constrains economic and social development. This report looks at the role of rural transport in reducing poverty and considers a range of issues affecting rural mobility including costs, stakeholders involved, population densities and competing services. It examines policies for promoting rural mobility including financial and regulatory considerations.