Community Impact of Regional Transportation Infrastructure Growth
Project for the
Mack-Blackwell
National Rural Transportation Study Center
Kim Fendley Will Miller
University of Arkansas
Community Impact of Regional Transportation Infrastructure Growth
Kim Fendley Will Miller
University of Arkansas
Abstract[1]
This study explores the attitudes of local citizens toward an improved transportation infrastructure (regional airport, highway expansion) and continued growth. Our hypothesis is that the people of Northwest Arkansas support increased growth in this area but may be experiencing some confusion in the transition from a rural to a more urban corridor. The purpose of this research is to expand our understanding of the human component in an environment of economic and social change. Our methodology was a mail survey designed to serve as a baseline study of attitudes concerning the transportation infrastructure improvements. We found there to be less confusion than concern. Voters in Northwest Arkansas want the benefits of growth in the forms of improved transportation and more high quality jobs but do not want to lose sight of the social and environmental aspects of the current community that make this area special.
Community Impact of Regional Transportation Infrastructure Growth
Introduction
Washington County in Northwest Arkansas is a vital, growing metropolitan area. Between 1970 and 1990 there was a 46.6% population increase with a corresponding increase in population density (1970: 81.4 people per square mile versus 1990: 119.3). To support this population growth Washington County has maintained a diverse economy. Personal income is derived from a variety of industries. In 1989, employment in goods related manufacturing accounted for 24.9% of the citizen's income, government (e.g., university employees) 18.8%, agricultural services, forestry, fisheries, transportation, public utilities and wholesale trade 18%.0, services 16.6%, retail trade 10.8%, mining and construction 5.4%, and finance, insurance and real estate 3.4%. This diversity and vitality is reflected in the low unemployment rate for that same year: 3.7.
Northwest Arkansas has also become a high-profile area. One community in the region made national news when "Money" magazine rated Fayetteville favorably on a quality-of-life scale. "Money" magazine confirmed that Fayetteville is a good place to live, reporting this on network television programs. This attention is dwarfed by Clinton's successful candidacy for President. His presidency continues to bring attention and scrutiny to Arkansas. These visible advertisements for Arkansas overlay the ongoing progress toward more linkages to the national and international economic communities. These linkages can be seen concretely in the expansion of highways 71 and 112 while the existence of Tysons Foods, Walmart Industries, Cargills, Campbells Soup, J.B. Hunt, Levi Straus, et. al., gives the area a strong economic base on which to continue building.
There is thus a considerable constituency for growth in Northwest Arkansas. Life is continually changing for the people of this area. With Northwest Arkansas' new national image of job opportunities and a high quality of life coupled with the proposal of new airport facilities, growth must not be a haphazard, unspoken, uncontrolled trend, subject solely to reactive NIMBYs. It is now a recognized issue for all community members.
This research is a baseline study to be used in exploring the attitudes of local citizens toward continued growth. Our hypothesis is that the people of Washington and Benton Counties support increased growth in the region, but may be experiencing some confusion in the transition. This project is intermodal. The survey will explore the impact of both air and ground transportation modalities on attitudes towards the changing community.
Method
This survey was a mailed questionnaire called "Transportation and Community Growth." It was designed and administered by Drs. Kim Fendley and Will Miller. Don Dillman's (1978) total design method was used to increase response rates, which included doing three waves of mailings. Listings of voter registration for Washington and Benton Counties were used as the sampling frame. These lists were considered the most representative list of Arkansas adults available. Registered voters were also of interest because they influence politicians and therefore, local decisions. The survey was implemented in the Spring of 1994 and received a 69% response rate.
Context
Northwest Arkansas, specifically Benton and Washington Counties, is a growing vital area of Arkansas. Population change between 1980 and 1990 for these counties greatly surpassed the state's rate of change. Benton County had a 24.8% increase, Washington County had a 12.9% increase compared to the statewide change of 2.8%.
Growth is also apparent in the changes in earnings per job and the movement between employment sectors. Earnings per job increased 11% in Benton County and 8.8% in Washington County in the 1980s whereas the Arkansas state earnings per job increased 3.2%. Employment in Benton County is located predominantly in the goods producing sector of the economy (32.3%). In Washington County the goods producing sector competes with the service producing sector for the dominant job source (24.5% versus 24.3%). Growth is implied by the increase in the transportation sector between 1980 and 1990. During this decade, the transportation sector increased 2.5% in Benton County and 2% in Washington County compared to a .7% increase statewide. The transformation of Northwest Arkansas also can be seen in the flow of jobs from natural resource based employment to trade and to service production. In Benton County natural resource based employment decreased (-4.3%) while trade increased (+4.5%). In Washington County natural resource based employment also decreased (-3.9%) but the largest increase was in the service producing sector (+3.7%).
In terms of demographic characteristics of the populations, while both counties have relatively high percentage of their population consisting of dependent persons in 1990 (Benton County 27.5% < 20 years of age, 17.9% > 64 years of age; Washington County 29.2% < 20 years of age, 11.3% > 64 years of age), yet, each county has fewer persons below the poverty line in 1989 than does the state (Benton County 9.6%; Washington County 14.6%; Arkansas 18.5%). Finally, a higher percentage of the residents age 25 or more of Benton and Washington Counties have a high school diploma than statewide (Benton 74.8%; Washington 73.3%; Arkansas 66.4%). (Data in this section from Rural Profile of Arkansas 1993.)
In sum, Northwest Arkansas has a larger percentage of better educated citizens and a lower percentage of people in poverty. The economy is shifting away from resource based (typically rural) jobs and to the more globally oriented trade and service sectors. The engine helping to run these changes is the population growth from both natural increases and in-migration. The increases in the transportation sector of employment demonstrates one response to this growth.
The following report includes comparisons of voters responses to growth attitude questions for Benton and Washington Counties, a short summary of voters' responses from the rural areas of Northwest Arkansas and an analysis of citizen participation in a booming area. Appendix I contains the percentages for each survey question for all of the respondents. Appendix II contains the percentages for each survey question for rural and urban respondents.
Landfills: Citizen’s Perceive Landfills as a Problem
Of all problem variables included in this survey, landfills are perceived by registered voters to be the most serious issue in Northwest Arkansas. According to the survey's results, 88% of the registered voters in Northwest Arkansas believe that landfills are a very serious (42%) or a somewhat serious problem (46%). Only 13% of those individuals surveyed feel that landfills are not a serious issue.
Washington County residents are somewhat more likely to feel that landfills are a more serious issue than Benton County residents. The large majority of respondents from the three major cities included within the survey indicate that landfills are a significant problem.
Recycling in Northwest Arkansas: Who Does and Who Doesn’t
An issue closely related to solid waste management is recycling. According to the results from the survey, recycling is an established component of solid waste management in Northwest Arkansas. Seventy percent of the registered voters surveyed indicate that they recycle. In addition, recycling appears to be a fairly frequent practice. Most individuals who report that they recycle regularly tend to do so on a monthly or weekly basis.
In general, 73% of the residents in Benton County recycle and 68% of the residents in Washington County recycle. Of the major cities included in this analysis, recycling appears to be most common in Fayetteville and Rogers. Of the three largest cities, residents in Rogers tend to recycle more frequently on a weekly basis whereas residents in Fayetteville are more likely to recycle on a monthly basis. Residents in Springdale, however, indicate that recycling is a less common practice than in the other major cities in Northwest Arkansas.
Those respondents living in rural areas tend to recycle on a less frequent basis than urban residents. Rural residents are more likely to recycle on a monthly and yearly basis. Urban residents tend to recycle on a daily or weekly basis.
Population Growth: Second Most Serious Problem
Population growth, because of its impact on the environment, may well be considered as an environmental issue. Citizens consider population growth to be the second most serious problem in Northwest Arkansas. This is the case for both Benton and Washington County. Of all the issues considered, only the landfill issue is considered more serious. Traffic congestion is a very close third.
After local population growth, water pollution is the environmental issue about which voters express concern. Seventy percent of the respondents believe that water pollution is a very serious (21%) or somewhat serious (50%) problem in Northwest Arkansas. More respondents from Washington County indicate that water pollution is a very serious problem than respondents from Benton County.
Feelings of registered voters towards current levels of water quality protection, population growth, and preservation of water help to explain why water pollution is considered such a serious issue in Northwest Arkansas. People who believe that water pollution is a serious problem in Northwest Arkansas also tend to feel that we are not doing a good job protecting our water quality and that we are not preserving enough of our natural resources. In addition, individuals who feel that water pollution is a serious problem also tend to believe that the rate of population growth in Northwest Arkansas is too fast and that the community is not doing a good job regulating growth. Individuals who believe water pollution is a serious problem also tend to feel that continued growth in Northwest Arkansas will hurt the quality of life in our area. Finally, water quality spending ranked very near the top of activities citizens think government spending should support.
Other Responses to Environmental Questions
Tree loss and soil contamination closely followed water pollution in their perceived seriousness. Other responses to environmental problem questions are in the table below. They are presented in descending order of seriousness.
|
Environmental Area |
|
Not Serious |
|
Somewhat Serious |
|
|
Very Serious |
|
Tree Loss |
|
32% |
|
46% |
|
|
22% |
|
Soil Contamination |
|
33% |
|
48% |
|
|
19% |
|
Air Pollution |
|
46% |
|
39% |
|
|
15% |
|
Noise |
|
68% |
|
28% |
|
|
5% |
Respondents in Washington County are more concerned about tree loss than Benton County. Of the three major cities, Fayetteville and Springdale express the most concern regarding tree loss in their respective communities.
Policy Reflections
According to survey responses from registered voters in Washington and Benton counties, landfills, population growth and water pollution are the three most serious environmental concerns. Landfills, in particular, are considered to be a serious problem in Northwest Arkansas. The issues of local population growth, traffic congestion, and crime followed landfills (considering all issues) in degree of importance as perceived by registered voters in Northwest Arkansas.
Spending to protect water quality in Northwest Arkansas is particularly important to registered voters; as a spending priority, it is ranked in the highest preferences for increase government spending including public education, police protection, four-lane highways and city roads.
In general, the majority of registered voters (79%) in Northwest Arkansas are satisfied with the natural beauty of the community. Still, a large proportion of the respondents believe that environmental protection should take priority over economic growth.
Forty percent of the respondents do not feel that the government in their community is doing a good job of regulating growth. Another 41% neither agree nor disagree that their community is doing a good job of regulating growth. Only 18% of the respondents agree that their community did well at regulating growth. Policy initiatives that are designed to promote growth and yet ensure our area's natural environment would seem most consistent with the feelings of many voters in Northwest Arkansas.
Transportation Issues: Airport and Highway Facilities
The discussion on airport planning in Northwest Arkansas is still continuing. Our previous survey data (Fall 1993) indicated a majority in support of the construction of a regional airport. The current survey results further explore the preferred policy options concerning the broader question of airport construction and improvement in Northwest Arkansas. When given five options on airport planning, 34% of registered voters in NW Arkansas say "build a new regional airport." Another 25% say to both build the regional airport and improve local airports. Almost a third (30%), say they think it is best if we improve local airports but do not build a regional airport. Three percent chose no new airport development and about 8% had no opinion.
As in the previous survey, the majority support a new regional airport. The more recent survey shows, however, that there are still some airport planning questions unsettled. Another way of looking at these data is to combine the question responses that include both "building a new airport and improving local airports" with "improve local airport only." Doing this shows that 58% of all respondents (64% of respondents who had an opinion) favor improving local airports. A majority of the respondents want a new regional airport and a majority of the respondents want to improve local airports. The Federal Aviation Authority is concerned about the potential of competition from local airports threatening the success of a new regional airport. Given the discussions in some municipal government bodies and the majority of respondents' support for local airport development, this is an area of policy development that bears watching.
The answers given by Benton and Washington County registered voters are not significantly different. That is, their answers are so similar we cannot say that registered voters in Benton County have different beliefs than those in Washington County. The same is true when the answers are broken down by the cities: Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers.
To further explore these choices, respondents' perceptions of the effects transportation changes will have on taxes, public facilities and jobs were examined. The specific questions asked whether people agreed or disagreed with: "A new regional airport will raise the taxes of the citizens of Northwest Arkansas." "Growth that comes from the new regional airport will result in overloaded public facilities such as roads, water supply, solid waste and sewer systems." and "The new highways and the new regional airport will provide jobs for local people." The answers to these three questions help explain respondents feelings about airport options. The results are represented below.
|
|
New Regional Airport Will Raise Taxes
|
|
||||
|
|
Disagree |
Disagree |
Neither |
Agree |
Agree |
|
|
Airport Options |
Strongly |
Mildly |
|
Mildly |
Strongly |
|
|
Build New Regional Airport |
14% |
18% |
30% |
28% |
10% |
|
|
Regional Airport and Local |
7% |
12% |
32% |
36% |
14% |
|
|
Local Airport Development Only |
1% |
1% |
13% |
37% |
48% |
|
|
No New Development |
6% |
0% |
11% |
6% |
78% |
|
|
No Opinion |
2% |
7% |
26% |
40% |
24% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New Regional Airport Will Overload Services
|
|
|
||||
|
|
Disagree |
Disagree |
Neither |
Agree |
Agree |
|
|
|
Airport Options |
Strongly |
Mildly |
|
Mildly |
Strongly |
|
|
|
Build New Regional Airport |
14% |
26% |
25% |
25% |
11% |
|
|
|
Regional Airport and Local |
8% |
14% |
31% |
25% |
21% |
|
|
|
Local Airport Development Only |
2% |
4% |
9% |
27% |
58% |
|
|
|
No New Development |
6% |
0% |
0% |
28% |
67% |
|
|
|
No Opinion |
0% |
10% |
45% |
19% |
26% |
|
|
|
|
New Airport and Highways = Jobs
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Disagree |
Disagree |
Neither |
Agree |
Agree |
|
|
Airport Options |
Strongly |
Mildly |
|
Mildly |
Strongly |
|
|
Build New Regional Airport |
1% |
1% |
9% |
40% |
49% |
|
|
Regional Airport and Local |
1% |
4% |
10% |
40% |
43% |
|
|
Local Airport Development Only |
19% |
18% |
30% |
22% |
8% |
|
|
No New Development |
44% |
18% |
25% |
6% |
6% |
|
|
No Opinion |
4% |
8% |
41% |
30% |
15% |
|
Respondents who support building a new regional airport or building a regional airport and expansion of local airports tend more often to disagree that the new regional airport will raise taxes and will overload public services. Regional airport supporters are also likely to believe the new airport will bring new jobs for local residents.
However, the pattern is reverses for respondents who said they do not support the regional airport (want only local airport development or no airport development.) These respondents more often tend to agree that taxes will increase and services will be overloaded. They also tend to disagree rather than agree that new airport and highway facilities will mean jobs for local people.
In summary, some form of airport improvements was chosen as the most popular option in airport planning by most residents. A minority (3%) of the people opt for no new airport developments of any kind. In terms of development options, there is majority support for a regional airport. The policy question that remains as the most interesting is whether there should be both regional and local airport development and what citizens might feel if they are forced to choose between the two.
|
Frequency of Airport Use
|
|
|
|