Highway Study Could Help Developers

Traffic can delay or doom a community plan, but a report by the American Highway Users Alliance, "Unclogging America's Arteries: Effective Relief for Highway Bottlenecks (1999-2004)," gives a handy heads-up to developers scouting for residential locations.

Seven bottlenecks ranked among the nation’s 18 worst in the original report in 1999 no longer are ranked thanks to reconstruction projects completed or under way. For example, a major project in Houston cut annual delays at what had been the nation’s second-worst bottleneck from 22.1 million hours in ’99 to 2.9 million in 2002.

The updated report cites suburban growth as a key problem and suggests that cities use zoning controls, urban growth boundaries and tax incentives for high-density development. How-ever, it warns, “Many of these strategies ... often are contrary to market trends, burdening consumers with extra costs and dampening economic efficiency, at least in the short run.”

For more information, visit www.highways.org.