TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND LAND USE PLANNING: THE QUALITY OF LIFE CRISIS

Abstract

Increasingly, a volatile public policy issue in rapidly growing areas is traffic congestion. The sprawl of suburban growth, decentralization of urban centers and the shift of jobs from urban centers to suburban areas contributes to traffic congestion. Traditionally, government's response to traffic congestion has been to use engineering, public finance and regulatory control to design and build new highway systems or expand exiting ones. The authors suggest instead that state and local governments use a combination of techniques to better manage land use applications and explore public finance alternatives to achieve a better balance between travel demand, transportation capacity and environmental concerns.