Balancing transportation needs of national parks and local communities: an interdisciplinary approach

• Illustrates an interdisciplinary approach to balance transportation needs of national parks and local communities. • Examine applications of big data to evaluate the impact of road closure; • Demonstrate ways to amalgamate field collected and AI supplemented data; • Advocate stakeholders coordination and collaboration. Playing a multifaceted role in national and international ecosystems, National Parks are not only crucial for conservation and preservation of tourism resources but also act as major economic drivers for surrounding communities. The transportation connections between the National Parks and the local communities are often affected by urban traffic congestion, commuting patterns, and roadway capacities. This manuscript examines the potential applications of crowd sourced big data and collaboration among various stakeholders to assist National Parks, especially small urban parks, to address challenges when attempting road closures. Using Guilford Courthouse National Military Park (GUCO) as a case study, the authors have demonstrated ways to conduct traffic analysis by amalgamating field collected and AI supplemented data to replace or reduce the expensive traffic data collection effort. Proper assessment of road closure impacts, along with strategies to mitigate these effects and address local concerns, is crucial to ensuring the mutual benefit of both National Parks and their neighboring communities.