This report is the product of a first-year research project in the University Transportation Centers Program. The Program was created by Congress in 1987 to "contribute to the solution of important regional and national transportation problems." A university-based center was established in each of the ten federal regions following a national competition in 1988. Each center has a unique theme and research purpose, although all are interdisciplinary and also have educational missions.

The Midwest Transportation Center is one of the ten centers; it is a consortium that includes Iowa State University (lead institution) and the University of Iowa. The Center serves Federal Region 7 which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Its them is "transportation actions and strategies in a region undergoing major social and economic transition." Research projects conducted through the Center bring together the collective talents of faculty, staff, and students within the region to address issues related to this important theme.

This particular project was carried out by an interdisciplinary research team at the University of Iowa's Public Policy Center. This center is a reflection of the University's renewed commitment to applied research that seeks to advance the public interest. The Center's projects generally involve close interaction with decision makers and resource people in both the public and private sectors.

The project is central to the Midwest Transportation Center's theme in that it examines the relationship between investment in roads and highways and local economic development. The principal investigator was Professor David J. Forkenbrock, Director of the Public Policy Center. Co-investigator was Professor Thomas F. Pogue of the Department of Economics. They were assisted by Norman S. J. Foster, a research associate at the Public Policy Center, and David J. Finnegan, a student in the graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning with a major in transportation.

$7.95, 98 pp., 16 figures, perfect bound