Access to reliable transportation is essential for daily life, yet semi-rural communities face long distances, limited transit, and rising costs. For residents of affordable housing, this can make it difficult to go to work, medical appointments, grocery stores, and school. These challenges can often be overlooked in traditional planning, leaving gaps in service and equity.
Drive Clean Colorado (DCC) began this work after speaking with stakeholders, including the City of Loveland and United Way of Morgan County, who recognized a need among residents in their communities and connected DCC with Aspire (Loveland Housing Authority) and Brush Housing Authority. Through these relationships, DCC helped assess resident transportation needs and explore feasible, community-centered mobility solutions.
Funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Cities and Communities Coalition Community Initiative Transportation Equity (CITE) program made it possible to engage residents directly through surveys, workshops, focus groups, and informal conversations. This feedback helped develop tailored mobility plans to residents’ needs and organizational capacity. Throughout the process, flexible, community-tailored engagement and partnering with trusted local organizations were repeatedly highlighted as essential to ensuring solutions reflect residents’ priorities and are practical to implement.
Key findings included:
- Residents in both communities needed reliable transportation to work, school, medical services, and grocery stores.
- Low-income and older residents expressed strong interest in affordable shuttle services to reduce reliance on personal vehicles that can burden residents through high gas prices, vehicle maintenance costs, and the wear-and-tear of long-distance rural driving.
- Existing transit and partnerships in Loveland allowed for more structured engagement and interest in electric shuttles and bike libraries.
- In Brush, limited infrastructure and lower institutional trust required informal, on-site conversations and partnerships with trusted community organizations, highlighting the need for a fixed-route shuttle service.
This work demonstrates the importance of resident-centered mobility planning, especially in semi-rural areas, and provides housing authorities with actionable insights, realistic project options, and pathways to pursue funding for community mobility projects that improve access, affordability, and quality of life for residents.
The full end-of-project report shares additional findings, lessons learned, and next steps for communities interested in advancing equitable mobility planning. Read the full report HERE