A new study of transit-oriented growth in America's most transit-served cities reveals that Chicago lags way behind its peers. The area's enduring pattern of sprawling development is blamed.
"The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) reports that Chicago, alone among the five metro areas with extensive transit service in the US, saw a decline in development in transit sheds relative to its region from 2000 to 2010," reports Robert Steuteville.
"The other four regions with at least 325 stations — New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco — achieved growth in development within a half mile of transit stations, relative to their regions."
"As a result, Chicago Region residents are paying higher transportation costs and experiencing reduced access to jobs," says the report, Transit-Oriented Development in the Chicago Region: Efficient and Resilient Communities for the 21st Century [PDF].
"The findings indicate that urban sprawl has continued as the dominant development pattern in the Chicago region, said Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology. The sprawl is accompanied by an increase in a typical household's transportation costs because of higher fuel prices," notes in The Chicago Tribune.
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Read the full story: $1 billion needed for transit sheds in Chicago, report says
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