More Roads Equals More Congestion

Bruce Katz, VP and Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings told attendees at the Institute for Emerging Issues 2009 Forum today that transportation policies that focused on building North Carolina out of congestion were doomed to fail because “More roads equals more congestion.”

Rebutting the argument that sprawl was a ‘natural’ outcome of individuals and families making choices about how and where they live, Katz argued that the booming low density development in the disappearing rural areas and open spaces around cities in the United States and North Carolina was a product of government choices. He argued that transportation and land use planning choices have encouraged sprawling low density development, induced spiraling transportation demand and greater congestion.

Katz noted that transportation and elected officials responded to this growing congestion by building and widening still more roads. This response simply further enabled sprawl. Predictable negative effects on transportation budgets followed. Katz argued that policy that encouraged mixed-use development – a combination of commercial, residential and light industrial land uses – was fiscally responsible because it could reduce transportation demand and therefore ease pressure on budgets.

Urging the 1000-strong crowd at the Forum to consider the current economic and infrastructure crisis as an opportunity to re-make the structure of local government, Katz advocated a regional approach to urban development that integrated land use planning that ensured adequate affordable housing options, improved school location and promoted higher and mixed density development, with transportation planning that emphased public transportation and road pricing to reduce demand.

Katz expressed frustration with current governance structures that failed to adequately match urban area geography and economic development with local government boundaries. The resulting jumble of competing jurisdictions and coordination problems between cities, counties and transportation planning organisations (MPOs) were hindering judicious infrastructure development in metropolitan areas. These problems would be a continue to be a drag and threat to economic growth.