Abstracts History

Mahoning Movement: a History and Advocacy of Transportation Especially Through the Mahoning Valley

by Jacob L. Harver

There is buzz today about the “Voltage Valley," the potential for GM Lordstown’s conversion to electric car production. However, there is a concurrent transportation revolution, which can also generate a significant economic impact for the region, its quality of life, environmental sustainability, mobility/ accessibility, while rooted in its culture and history: titled here as Mahoning Movement.It is centered on Interpreted Accessible Active Transportation Trails: universally accessible (eg: wheelchairs, cultural inclusivity) dedicated hike & bike paths with information panels. The majority of the network east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio is in place, but for a significant missing link between Struthers and Ravenna. It can become reality in the near future through Eastgate Regional Council of Governments’ Mahoning River Corridor Plan and enacting the Steel Valley National Heritage Area proposed by Congressman Tim Ryan.This project examines the history of transportation in America with a focus on the Mahoning Valley, and advocates its future potential. It utilizes GIS as a scientific method in topography, to deliver historical documentation (including geo- referenced maps and audio/ visual field recordings), an augmentation to traveling the trail (like a virtual historic marker accessed on a mobile device), and an ultimate extrapolation of Universal Accessibility, in that anyone with internet access can experience.