Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair

Ronald W. Eck.

Abstract

With the decreasing number of hospitals in rural areas, more rural clinics are being established to meet the health care needs in rural areas. Rural clinics are small health care facilities that serve the primary care needs of rural areas. There are currently no published trip generation rates available for rural clinics. The only rates available are those presented for "clinics" in ITE's Trip Generation (1997). These rates are based on very small sample sizes and on facilities that do not adequately reflect the traffic characteristics of rural clinics.;Trip generation rates were developed for rural clinics in West Virginia. Traffic counts were collected at five rural clinics the state. The clinics were relatively small with gross floor areas of 1500 to 3400 square feet and 3 to 12 employees. Rates were computed for: (1) trips per employee; (2) trips per thousand square feet of gross floor area; (3) trip per doctor. These rates were based on average weekday, average weekday peak hour, and average weekday a.m. and p.m. peak hour volumes.;The results of this study indicated that there is a considerable difference between the rates presented in ITE (1997) and those for rural clinics in West Virginia. These results are considered reliable for rural clinics, since they were developed by following the procedures and criteria set forth by ITE. Several recommendations for additional research were presented.

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