The effects transportation planning, infrastructure, and outcomes on the Kenai Peninsula

Abstract

In this research, I explored qualitative and quantitative authentic data that documented evidence of transportation and community expressions to explain the relationships identified and to help understand common traits that present a connection with the human aspects of transportation. The primary intent of the research was to determine if comments provided by rural and urban communities about transportation conditions shared common traits such as safety, property value, and personal interests. This study explored the long-term value of transportation infrastructure, where the value was determined by the people who used the infrastructure from their expressions presented in public meetings. Rural and urban communities have different preferences, yet the findings of this study suggested that identifiable attributes are shared. The data identified a set of common attributes that are associated with measurable qualitative data, including safety, development, personal interests, basic needs, property issues, economic changes, and requests for information as coded values. These values come from the roads driven on, vehicles driving on them, and the people who use them. The study focused on one development entity, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, which did document public input and decisions made as an advisory opinion about transportation recommendations in meeting minutes. A review of 15 years of records from the Kenai Peninsula Borough demonstrated that the relationship between transportation infrastructure and community 1) has common identifiable attributes, 2) is measurable, and 3) provides information about transportation value as well as the rates of change that a community experiences. The data analysis demonstrated that the comments were 45% were urban, and 55% rural, suggesting that the relationship is balanced between the populations on the Kenai Peninsula. The analysis utilized an emergent method that found common traits as well as temporal and spatial variations iv between common themes expressed by community members, the amounts of transportation work performed, and measurable comparisons of the data. The results demonstrated that there are common measurable traits that exist in transportation information that can be evaluated using mixed methods. There are also limiting factors associated with the research.