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Abstract
There are two major players in the transportation system: users and decision makers.
Traditionally, public agencies (transportation agencies at the federal, state, county, and local level) held
most of the decision-making powers related to transportation. The decision makers referred to in this
study include county engineers, county road supervisors, and county commissioners. These decisions
pertain to the physical infrastructure and operating characteristics of roadways. Infrastructure issues
include financing and programming of building, improving, and maintaining highway transportation
structures. Operational issues include regulations, enforcement, and taxing of users. A multitude of
federal and state laws were established to assure efficient and safe use of the nation's transportation
infrastructure. Road users, on the other hand, include motorists and motor carriers who utilize the
highway transportation system. These users finance some costs of the transportation system by paying
taxes and user fees. Road users typically expect adequate road services to be provided by governmental
agencies. Users of transportation services participate in directing some road decisions through public
input mechanisms and input to elected officials. However, in many cases, there still will be differences
between perceptions of providers and users. To fill this gap, new federal policy specifically had
mandated transportation agencies to adopt active and effective public participation plans. The
transportation plans developed according to the 1991 Inter-modal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
(ISTEA) requirements and continued in the Transportation Efficiency Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21)
consider input from extensive public involvement process. However, these efforts still are rudimentary in
many states. In addition, user groups targeted for participation usually are located in urban centers where
most of the population and economic activities are located. Even in these areas, citizen participation is
limited. This paper summarizes the results of a study on direct assessment of rural user needs in three
states including Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The objective of the study was to assess rural
road users and providers perception of rural road needs. Different rural road user groups were identified
to obtain a representative sample of perceptions. User groups targeted in the study included commuters,
delivery services, mail carriers, school bus drivers, and farmers. An attitudinal survey was developed and
administered to these groups. The survey yielded good return rates in each of the states, suggesting that
more road users are becoming aware of road management and finance issues. This paper summarizes
development of the survey and discusses major findings.