The study of employment location and transportation accessibility in the Huntsville Metropolitan area

The main purpose of a transportation system is to connect people to their communities and specifically to connect employees to jobs. The Huntsville Metropolitan region’s transportation system is without a doubt almost exclusively automobile dependent due to the limited availability of public transportation along with the Regions’ 2000 and 2010 Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPOs). Journey to work report. In an automobile dependent region, the level of car ownership is crucial in determining accessibility as well as the ability to utilize employment opportunities. Increased job decentralization and suburban employment throughout various metropolitan areas across the United States decreases the level of employment accessibility resulting in the need for efficient accessibility to the existing transportation system and employment opportunities. Employment accessibility is an issue of great concern in urban areas across the United States significantly in major metropolitans, which is evident based on the continued study, evaluation, analysis, and scrutiny by numerous scholars. In evaluating employment accessibility, the concept of automobile dependency is a relevant factor for the presence of spatial and/or modal mismatch. The purpose of this paper therefore is to examine the relationship between transportation accessibility and employment location in the metropolitan area of Huntsville, Alabama. In doing this the author examines the attributes of residential location, car ownership, house value and other demographic factors of the Huntsville, Metropolitan region to answer the research question of “what, if any is the relationship between these attributes and factors?” Data was obtained from the US Census Bureau for the 2000 and 2010 periods and was extracted then exported and saved as an SPSS document where it was manipulated and analyzed. The Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficients (r) were calculated to give an indication of the suggested relationships between variables as the author assesses the employment accessibility in the Huntsville Metropolitan Region. The number of vehicles available which reflects the level of car ownership within the sample is positively related to the residential location indicating that one’s residential location is indeed related to owning a car. This paper concludes that spatial mismatch encompasses the economic restructuring of the Huntsville Metropolitan Region’s whereby employment opportunities are located far away from areas of residence. Modal mismatch is due to the challenges and/or inabilities faced by individuals in their travels between home and work or place of potential employment.