National parks have famously been called “America’s best idea” and preserve the nation’s natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment of all. One of the current working priorities of the National Park Service (NPS) is enhancing the relevancy and engagement of the national parks with diverse audiences, especially for underserved groups. To address this priority, transportation is needed to provide access to national parks, but transportation may not be equally accessible to all groups in society. Understanding the effects of transportation on visitation to the national parks by racial/ethnic groups is essential for the NPS to improve the accessibility of transportation systems and encourage greater visitation by racial/ethnic minority groups. Moreover, transportation can be more than a means of access, it can also be a form of recreation itself, providing opportunities for visitors to experience and appreciate parks and related areas. But, differences in desirability of transportation recreation opportunities across recreation settings and among racial/ethnic groups are rarely addressed. The intent of this dissertation is three-fold: 1) identify transportation related barriers impacting visitation to national parks by racial/ethnic groups, and the effects of transportation on the visiting national parks, 2) identify the differences in indicators of the transportation recreation opportunity spectrum among racial/ethnic visitors and across recreation settings, 3) measure spatial accessibility of national parks and the effects of spatial accessibility and other factors on visitation to national parks among racial/ethnic groups.
