The Northeast is often characterized as a megalopolis: a chain of densely populated habitats strung like a strand of pearls along the Atlantic Ocean. Large cities are very much a part of the landscape but so too are the rural areas of the region. Small towns and rural areas have broad appeal, with a pace and quality of life that have all but vanished in much of urban America. Some 117 million people live in small towns and rural areas of the Nation. In the Northeast, Vermont has the highest percentage of rural population (67.9 percent) in the country. The rural populations of Maine (55.4 percent), New Hampshire (49.0 percent) and Pennsylvania (31.1 percent) are above the national average (24.8 percent). Each of the other Northeastern states, no matter how urban, have important rural areas.
   Transportation has always been a crucial issue in small towns and rural areas. Covered bridges are representative of the region's earliest commitment to provide mobility to people and goods. The thoughtful engineering and craftsmanship are an important reminder of the need to provide physical links in rural areas.
   A rural lifestyle presents special problems of isolation due to the loss of rural bus and rail service. The Interstate Highway System, while providing important city-to-city connections, has bypassed much of the rural population. Rural families must rely almost completely on personal autos and trucks to get to employment, stores, services, medical facilities, schools and other basic social functions. According to the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (conducted by the Federal Highway Administration), 78.3 percent of the residences in non-metropolitan statistical areas (msa) did not have any public transportation available. As a result, the average number of vehicles per household in non-msa tend to be 26 percent higher than in the central city.
   A significant number of the nearly 80 percent of the rural population who do not have access to public transit tend to be older and very often less well off than people who live in urban areas. The effect of changes in welfare laws that limit auto ownership by recipients further isolate the rural poor. To help address this problem, Congress, in 1991, enacted the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) which includes funding for rural transit agencies, providers of service to the elderly and disabled, and transit operators in small urbanized areas.
   States are attempting to harness the same craftsmanship that produced covered bridges to design rural transit programs that meet the needs of their citizens. In undertaking this task, they can learn from thoughtful people in rural Britain and western Europe, who are taking a second look at the role rail can play in preserving the quality of rural life.