Comparing State Transportation Systems and Agencies through the Construction and Analysis of Regional and State-Level Databases.

摘要

The project has constructed and analyzed a regional database composed of information about the states and the Departments of Transportation represented in the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (WASHTO). Grounds for conflict and cooperation between member departments may be found in similarities and differences in state economies, demographies, and polities or in the structure of the state transportation departments themselves and the character of the transportation systems they build and manage. One way to illuminate sources of conflict and cooperation between members of transportation groups like WASHTO is to construct and analyze databases that capture the most important characteristics of the states and their transportation departments. The analytical strategy reveals several areas of interest and issues of mutual concern in transportation policy common to all of the members of the organization and to particular groups of state DOTs within the region. Several recommendations are made about ways in which WASHTO member agencies could cooperate and coordinate their transportation policy efforts.