Clean Transportation Strategies for Rural Communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States

The report analyzes rural transportation in four Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, finding that while rural households face barriers like lower incomes and limited charging infrastructure, they stand to gain the most financially from electric vehicle (EV) adoption due to higher mileage and less efficient existing fleets. It proposes a comprehensive strategy including EV incentives, expanded public transit, active transportation planning, and broadband expansion to reduce the need for travel.

• Rural counties in the studied states are characterized by older populations, lower household incomes, and vehicle fleets that are older, larger, and less fuel-efficient than those in urban areas.
• Rural households can achieve significant annual financial savings by switching from gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs), with estimated savings between $1,903 and $2,837 per year across the four analyzed states.
• Rural households produce higher annual CO2 emissions from personal motor vehicle travel than urban households, estimated between 8.5 and 10.8 metric tons per year.
• While rural residents benefit from easier home charger installation in single-family homes, they face barriers to EV adoption including higher upfront costs relative to income, a limited used EV market, and a lack of available electric light-duty trucks.
• A comprehensive clean transportation system for rural areas should integrate cleaner vehicles, expanded public and shared transit, active transportation (walking and biking), and broadband expansion to facilitate telehealth and telecommuting.
• Expanding broadband is identified as a critical non-traditional transportation policy that can reduce vehicle miles traveled by enabling remote work and healthcare.
• Vehicle scrappage programs can be effective in rural areas if they are designed equitably, specifically by targeting high-polluting vehicles and providing incentives for low-income participants to access alternative transportation or hybrid vehicles.
• Investment in rail trails can drive significant economic growth in rural towns; for example, the Great Allegheny Passage Trail generated $40 million for eight small towns and attracted 700,000 yearly users.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Clean Transportation Strategies for Rural Communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/rural-transportation-opportunities_0.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Clean Transportation Strategies for Rural Communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. 2020. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/rural-transportation-opportunities_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Clean Transportation Strategies for Rural Communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/rural-transportation-opportunities_0.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2020clean, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Clean Transportation Strategies for Rural Communities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/rural-transportation-opportunities_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }