Measuring the effect of transportation infrastructure on retail firm co-location patterns

The results suggest that transportation infrastructure affects the location behavior of firms with respect to their location in relation to their competitors. Access to important transportation infrastructure induces competing outlets to locate next to each other-a tendency not necessarily observed among outlets without such access. Theoretically, this does not only affect economic outcomes, but also travel demand and consumer accessibility. The findings from this study stress the importance of accounting for how transportation infrastructure changes the location behavior of firms in travel demand frameworks.