Author: Tyler J Sanders // ts0345a@student.american.edu
Professor & Contributor: Ryan T Moore
Abstract: Metropolitan commuting and the infrastructure built to support the flow of traffic in and out of major urban hubs like Washington D.C. impact the lives of millions, and have an impact on the economic, social, and environmental makeup of the places we live and work. Much research has been done on the impact of transit in a time where commutes are increasing as urban development spreads out. The main goal of this research is to use time series data from the American Communities Survey to build a difference-in-differences regression model predicting the impact that the opening of the 11 mile Silver Line Phase 1 Expansion of the WMATA Metro had on commuting behaviors in a select set of census tracts surrounding the rail expansion. While gaps in ACS reporting limit my ability to present statistically significant models, my research askes compelling questions that, given a series of transit expansions currently under construction in the Greater Washington Area, deserve continued exploration.
Keywords: Commuting, Difference-in-Differences Testing, Silver Line, WMATA Metro, Spatial Data, United States Census, American Communities Survey, Commuter Behavior, Case Study