Introduction

Central planning and state-dominated rural production and transportation systems further complicate the transitional situation in the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union and other developing countries. Primary among these concerns is the monopolistic structure of industrial production and trade. This permeates and dominates the current, monumental problems that are occurring within the transportation sector. The University of Arkansas' institutional capacity and experience in this area through the Mack-Blackwell National Rural Transportation Study Center is consistent with and supportive of the training and other analytical support that will be necessary to help the NIS develop the public and private transportation industry strategies for a private-sector-nurturing market environment.

The National Center has been intimately involved with our domestic transportation industry. As a result, its academic and research staff possess detailed knowledge of their field. This makes them aware of and sensitive to the full range of legal and regulatory issues affecting the transportation industry.

Business concerns use the Center to help them understand and articulate their policy and regulatory concerns. These firms know what it takes to succeed in the marketplace. Such associations and perspectives make the Center's faculty particularly well suited to conduct economic research and policy analysis as it relates to the transportation industry. This applies, in particular, to improving the analytical skills of anti-monopoly agencies to ensure that they have the capabilities to define the marketplace, quantify market shares and levels of competition, and evaluate the relative impact of various commercial arrangements as they relate to the transportation industry.

The Center's ability to identify transportation industry segments and issue areas that will benefit from changes in the regulatory environment is consistent with and supported by its activities and associations domestically. Faculty and their private sector associates would clearly be able to help design and implement strategies to reduce the need for, and effects of regulation and to foster an open, competitive rural transportation industry.

The principal mandate of the Center and associated academic departments is education. As a result, helping to develop appropriate economic education at the post-secondary level as it relates to the transportation industries within the NIS will be well served by the Center's involvement. The group is uniquely well placed to design and implement training programs at the university undergraduate and graduate levels to improve the teaching of economics and other issues relating to the transportation industry in rural areas. These activities will lead to developing relevant graduate and postgraduate research in the institutions with which this activity is associated.

Transportation research has historically focused on urban problems including highway congestion, network gridlock and mass transit needs. Further research in transportation must address rural needs if the U.S. domestic and international development needs are to be met. Although the largest transportation demand is in the urban areas, the rural demand has had, in many ways, as great or greater impact on long term economic and social conditions. Raw materials and agricultural products generally originate in rural areas. Inefficient and inadequate facilities for moving these materials out of rural areas increases distribution costs and the cost of the finished products. In today's international economy, a small margin of cost can mean the difference between market share and market loss.

Many finished products also originate in rural areas and require transportation to their markets. More products could be produced in rural areas if adequate transportation systems were available. Urban problems could be reduced if transportation systems aided and encouraged manufacturing that was more decentralized.

The vast majority of transportation systems are located in rural areas. For example, nearly 80 percent of the highway-lane-miles in the U.S. are located in rural areas. Many of these are inadequate, both geometrically and structurally, resulting in poorer safety and higher transportation costs for materials, products, and services originating or terminating in rural areas. In many cases, other transportation modes could be more efficient than highways If they were available and adequately linked to origination and destination points.

Another largely untapped transportation feature of the area is the Arkansas River. Through a series of locks and dams, the Arkansas River is navigable by barge traffic and small ocean-going vessels. By connection through the Mississippi, the Arkansas River offers potential for the development of direct, international water transportation.

Despite its rural nature, Northwest Arkansas has an obvious growing need for improved transportation systems. The area is home to a number of major trucking companies (J.B. Hunt Transport, ABF, Cannon Express, Willis Shaw, Arkansas Best Freight, Arkansas Freightways) and several large corporations. Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods are major U.S. corporations that have important trucking components within their organizations and require both national and international shipping for their operations. Wal-Mart and Tyson are native Northwest Arkansas companies. Their corporate headquarters, from which their shipping is centered and directed, are located in the immediate Northwest Arkansas area. Other major corporations in the general area that are involved in national and international shipping include Whirlpool Corporation, International Paper Company, Allen Canning, Rheem Corporation, and Baldor Electric. In addition, the agricultural base of Arkansas is important economically on a national scale, plays a major or principal role in several of the firms discussed above and produces a wide range of products including rice, soybeans, cotton, timber, poultry, swine, horticultural crops and fish products.

The above features make Northwest Arkansas a natural laboratory for the study of rural transportation generally and especially so for examining issues and technologies relating to intermodal approaches for improving the efficiency of rural transportation systems. The presence of the University of Arkansas in this region makes it an ideal location for the Center.

The Center is an interdisciplinary effort involving a total of eight different departments from four different colleges. The participating departments include Marketing and Transportation, Agricultural Economics, Computer Systems Engineering, Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Psychology, and Sociology. These departments collectively represent four different colleges which include Business Administration, Agriculture, Engineering, and Arts and Sciences.

The education phase is designed to increase the number of transportation professionals who are knowledgeable in rural problems and solutions. As part of the academic effort, undergraduate and graduate programs will be offered that provide an emphasis on transportation engineering and transportation management. Regular coursework as well as short courses are included in the Center's programs. Two new programs have been developed: A Master of Science in Transportation Engineering and a Master of Science in Transportation Management. The educational role of the Center also includes continuing education programs for business and industry, providing speakers for transportation related organizations, and consulting services to shippers and carriers within the state.

Typical research areas include rural transit, low volume roads and bridges, rural distribution and transportation management, environmental impact, tourism, and intercity freight operations and planning. Virtually all modes of transportation may be included, and preference will be given to intermodal studies. The following areas of investigation are provided as an indication of the scope of subjects to be explored: