Appalachian Coal Country Linx

there are the related issues of technical capacity and local engagement in transportation planning and priority setting. The remoter the rural area, the less likely will be the availability of professional staff resources and technical capacity to work on these complex transportation issues, and the more likely that decisions that have a direct impact on rural communities will be taken at the state level, often without adequate local consultations. 

Matters are made worse by both geographic challenges and the complex system of responsibilities and funding. “Long distances between population centers, steep grades, mountain passes, more dramatic weather events and effects on road conditions, and a dispersed system with high unit costs for service delivery, operations, and maintenance” (FHWA, 2001) provide the operating context for rural transportation. 

One of them, intended to clean up abandoned coal mines, sends millions every year to states that are finished cleaning up their highest-priority sites.