Project

Impact of High Speed Rail on Cities and Metropolitan Areas

For the US Conference of Mayors, EDR Group (now EBP) conducted a study of the local economic development impacts and opportunities associated with the development of high-speed rail (HSR) service to selected American cities.

By assessing city and metropolitan area effects, this new research identified issues not covered by past studies focusing on state or multi-state travel patterns. It focused on four cities representing a range of different locations and sizes: Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Orlando, Florida; and Albany, New York.

For each city, EDR Group surveyed local business, community and government leaders, profiled local development efforts affected by HSR, and identified initiatives to develop local ground transportation feeder networks and airport connections to integrate HSR. The study then identified ways in which local tourism patterns, connections between technology clusters and business relationships may be affected by HSR. The study concluded with discussion of supporting policy and planning steps that communities must implement to fully realize the potential economic opportunities.

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