The Small Urban, Rural, and Tribal Center on Mobility (SURTCOM) at Montana State University focuses on research that improves the mobility of people and goods in small urban, rural, and tribal areas. In response to the challenges identified during the 2017 workshop, SURTCOM, in partnership with MMEC, began exploratory research. The goal of this project was to better understand specific challenges manufacturers face when receiving raw materials into their facilities or transporting finished products to the next facility. The research explored production in rural communities and how current transportation issues will likely increase as populations and demands continue to grow in rural and mega regions.

Following a literature review, the research team reached out to the MEP National Network Centers in fourteen peer states (large, rural, western states) for help distributing a survey to manufacturers to quantify to what extent transportation issues affect them. For this study, when reaching out to tribal manufacturers, only federally recognized tribal communities were considered, omitting tribes that are state-recognized but not federally recognized (Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas were not used to measure tribal population).

Data was collected using the Qualtrics online survey tool. Respondents were able to skip any question that they wanted.