Study Finds Sprawl Drives Up Transportation Costs

A study by the SurfaceTransportation Policy Project and the Center for Neighborhood Technologyfinds that sprawl drives up transportation costs in the U.S."The report finds that the metro areas where transportation takes the biggest bite out of the household budget areHouston, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami and Detroit, followed by Minneapolis, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Kansas City andTampa. Much of the difference in transportation expenditures is due to sprawling development patterns, as shownby analysis of land use and transportation factors detailed in the report.The impact of sprawl on transportation costs holds true within metro areas as well. Annual automobile costs foraverage households are often thousands of dollars higher in sprawling neighborhoods with poor transportationchoices. The study finds that sprawl increases distances and reduces travel choices, requiring car ownership anddriving up transportation costs. In more convenient neighborhoods, automobile costs for the average family are$100 to $500 a month lower than in sprawling areas."[Link to complete report (about 50 pages) in HTML and PDF format, a separate Executive Summary, and a Fact Sheet that provides detailed charts and graphs for each of the cities studied. Thanks to PLANetizen reader Andy Alarcon for the link -- Editor]