Transportation has been shown to be a key influence on shaping the amount and location of economic development at national, state, and local levels. The first conference on Transportation and Economic Development, held in Williamsburg, Virginia. in November, 1989, began to explore what was then a new issue to transportation professionals. Since then, transportation planning has been increasingly required to focus on coordinated, multimodal systems that promote economic development. In doing so, local governments and state DOTs need better tools and techniques to plan more comprehensively and intermodally as international trade continues to grow and transportation infrastructure is required to facilitate this growth.

Transportation systems that support economic development will have to adjust to changing technology and demography in the next century. There is a need to share what has been learned over the last decade about the linkages between transportation investment and economic vitality.

This task will support a national conference on the linkages between transportation and economic development. Using a format of commissioned and panel discussions, the research results of the last decade will be brought together and presented in the context of preparing transportation professionals to better respond to economic development opportunities and challenges in their decisions and plans.