At 2 p.m. (eastern) on Tuesday, October 29th, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) will host a one-hour webinar showcasing the research report, “Transportation Access in Appalachia – Maryland DOT Pilot Implementation Project.” This report, commissioned by ARC and led by the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration was completed by the University of Minnesota’s Accessibility Observatory. It explores transportation accessibility within the Appalachian Region by driving, transit, and bicycling. Building upon the foundational insights provided by ARC’s Access in Appalachia report of 2020, this report expands the understanding of transportation accessibility within the Appalachian Region through innovative methodologies to measure, analyze, and visualize the access of Appalachian residents to critical opportunities, including jobs, education, healthcare, entertainment, and intermodal freight facilities.
All Appalachian states will benefit from this presentation as this research includes a dataset covering all of Appalachia at the fine level of a Census block and aligns with the mission of Appalachian states to enhance transportation safety, mobility, and accessibility across the Region. This research can serve as a catalyst for change in statewide decision-making processes. Representatives from economic development agencies, local development districts, State Departments of Transportation, and those who work in local, regional and state planning across the ARC region are encouraged to attend.
Meet the Presenters:
Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA)
Meredith Hill
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Meredith Hill is a regional planner and Asset Management Program Deputy Director delivering data-driven approaches to performance, asset, and risk management for the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA). She serves the Transportation Asset Management (TAM) community of practice as Chair of the Transportation Research Board TAM Committee, as Maryland’s voting member of the AASHTO Committee on Performance-Based Management, and as a member of the international PIARC AM Technical Committee. Before joining MDOT, Ms. Hill was an Economic Research Analyst with the Missouri Department of Economic Development and a Land Use Economics Consultant, focused on the cost of growth to public infrastructure. She has a baccalaureate degree in Anthropology from Trinity College and a masters degree in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies – Accessibility Observatory
Saumya Jain
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Saumya Jain is a Researcher with the Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies. She utilizes geospatial and data analytics tools to address transportation access and equity concerns in decision-making, collaborating closely with state departments of transportation and local transportation agencies. Saumya consults with planning and transportation agencies, aiding them in adopting accessibility metrics in performance measures and project prioritization. She has a background in transportation planning consulting and holds a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Saumya has been working in the applied accessibility research realm in the U.S. since 2017.
