State DOT Policies Affecting Adaptive Street Use: Learning from COVID-19 Experiences
Research Team
Tabitha Combs, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Noreen McDonald, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Leta Huntsinger, Ph.D., North Carolina State University/ITRE
What is the issue? This project examines local and state level responses to changing demands on public street space during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities across the US moved quickly to reallocate street space to accommodate increased need for space to walk, cycle, or engage in outdoor commerce. However, such actions were underrepresented in southeastern US cities.
What will this project accomplish? The researchers will identify state level actions—policies, resources, expertise—from other regions that facilitated rapid local responses and evaluate their transferability to southeastern US cities. They will use existing data sources on local COVID-19 actions, which they will supplement with structured interviews with state-level officials in a sample of US states that enacted strong supports for local street space adaptations.