Plymouth Park Research and Development Center: An Analysis of Accessibility in Southeastern Michigan

This paper examines selected factors which indicate that the Ann Arbor, Michigan area is a prime site for the location of Research and Development (R&D) parks. In the area, the 43-acre Plymouth Research complex has been located as a result of the amenities of the Ann Arbor area. Organizations such as Bendix, Warner Lambert and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently have facilities in the area. Research has shown that many of the factors that R&D facilities favor occur in the Ann Arbor area. This includes being located near a major research university (University of Michigan) and being located in an area with a high degree of accessibility from interstate highways and large airports. This investigation uses selected location techniques to determine the degree of accessibility of the Ann Arbor area. These include: the Accessibility and Connectivity Matrices and the Beta, Gamma, and Detour Indices. These techniques and their analyses reveal that there are sound decisions regarding the attractiveness of the area. Other factors are also examined which impact the R&D park. The analysis concludes with the discussion of the environs of the surrounding area and the complex itself