Cambridge Systematics and Economic Development Research Group, for the Federal Highway Administration. 2000. 

As an increasing number of national parks reach their parking and road capacity, there has been growing interest in promoting bus, tram and other alternative shuttle vehicles as a means of allowing more people to enjoy these attractions. Besides having implications for the park environment, there is also interest in the economic consequences of these strategies. How does the additional visitation affect the generation jobs and income in gateway communities, and how does it compare to the added costs of providing these services?

To address these questions for the National Park Service and Federal Transit Administration, Economic Development Research Group developed and applied its economic impact model to help assess the economic benefit of investing in alternative transportation to accommodate more visitors to popular national park sites. This economic analysis was conducted by EDR Group under subcontract to Cambridge Systematics. Staff of EDR Group identified the implications of changes in project development, operation of visitor transportation services, increased visitation and spending on meals and lodging at the park and in gateway communities. EDR Group applied versions of the IMPLAN regional economic model to assess additional implications for the local economies of each site.

EDR Group developed five case studies to illustrate these impacts:

• Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania
• Assateague National Seashore and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia
• Salem Maritime Historic Site in Massachusetts
• Canaveral National Seashore and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida
• Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona

EDR Group also analyzed national implications, in terms of the economic impact of transportation improvements and increased visitation for a total of 90 national parks. These impacts included direct and total local implications for spurring employment, business sales and income.

View the Economic Impact Analysis written by Economic Development Research Group (pdf file, 161k)