Isolation in the South: Poverty and Transportation Infrastructure in the Black Belt

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between transportation infrastructure and social well-being in the United States South, especially in the Black Belt. Specifically, this study focuses on the impact of airport accessibility and improvements on social well-being within the community capital framework in which built capital and political capital acted as a foundational basis for the broader concept of positive community capital. The results indicated that many cumulative disadvantages exist in the Black Belt of the southern United States. The research found that a higher level of airport accessibility is associated with a lower level of poverty and higher levels of health outcomes and net migration. The research further found that having a college and university in a community is associated with higher high school graduation rates, lower poverty rates, and lower unemployment rates. This research has important implications for addressing the cumulative disadvantages and isolation in the Black Belt.