Is The U.S. Government Encouraging Sprawl?

"Local officials in the Washington, D.C. area, beset with increasing traffic, energy use, pollution and loss of woods and farms to exurban development, are trying to direct development to town centers and transit corridors.

This smart growth strategy makes great sense and might work -- if only the federal government would cooperate.

"The Washington Post recently reported that U.S. government agencies have scattered tens of thousands of employees to the fringes of the region in recent years, frustrating efforts to manage what has become helter-skelter growth. Officials say the federal government has become the region's master planner, with no mandate from local or county governments, and isn't doing much of a job at it."