Citation

Cervero R. Transp. Res. Rec. 1986; 1079: 16-23.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The suburban office boom of the past decade has flooded the outskirts of many metropolitan areas with unprecedented traffic, leading to major tie-ups that previously afflicted only downtown motorists. Some have forewarned that suburban congestion could become the dominant transportation issue in the late 1980s and 1990s. The congestion threat posed by rapid office growth on the metropolitan fringes is examined in this paper. The focus is on the roles of design, land use, and transportation management toward safeguarding suburban mobility. A national survey showed that extremely low densities and detached designs have rendered many new suburban office parks almost entirely dependent on the automobile. The absence of onsite consumer services, such as restaurants, as well as gross imbalances in the siting of jobs and housing along most suburban corridors have further reinforced workers' preferences for solo commuting. Some private-sector initiatives have been encouraging, notably ridesharing incentive programs, flextime work schedules, and cofinancing of needed infrastructure. Ordinances requiring developers to introduce such programs have also been enacted in several places around the country. Overcoming numerous institutional and logistical obstacles to traffic management in suburbia, however, remains a lofty, though not insurmountable, challenge.

Language: en

Keywords

URBAN PLANNING; STREET TRAFFIC CONTROL - Management; TRANSPORTATION - Traffic Control