132-484: Highway revolts have occurred in cities and regions across the United States . In many cities, there remain unused highways , abruptly terminating freeway alignments, and short stretches of freeway in the middle of nowhere, all of which are evidence of larger projects which were never completed. In some instances, freeway revolts have led to the eventual removal or relocation of freeways that had been built. In
264-644: A U.S. Representative and later a Senator after rising to prominence with freeway revolts. In particular, I-70 was stopped through Leakin Park , and terminates at the Baltimore City line at a Park and Ride, just inside the I-695 Beltway , rather than its planned terminus at I-95 exit 50 (currently US 1 Alternate: Caton Avenue), while I-83 terminates in downtown Baltimore at Fayette Street instead of connecting to I-95 at exit 57. Additionally, Moravia Road
396-534: A bridge across the Housatonic River to bypass the existing crossing at Stevenson Dam , fearing the new crossing would cause irreparable damage to Bald Eagle nesting sites and increase truck traffic through both towns. Two other small sections of the planned Route 34 freeway were completed: a short freeway stub from Route 34 to a directional interchange with Interstate 84 in Newtown (originally built for
528-403: A bypass, numerous environmental coalitions raised concerns about the impact of the bypass on the local wetlands and cultural sites. The Pomo Native American tribe joined in the protests. In 2013, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit, which was attempting to halt the project, filed against Caltrans . The bypass was completed toward the end of 2016 and opened for traffic on November 3, 2016. During
660-442: A destructive pattern of growth in an endless quest to move away from the sprawl that only results in creating more of it. Urban sprawl is associated with a number of negative environmental outcomes. One of the major environmental problems associated with sprawl is land consumption , habitat loss and subsequent reduction in biodiversity . A review by Brian Czech and colleagues finds that urbanization endangers more species and
792-664: A growing trend in America's metropolitan areas. The Brookings Institution has published multiple articles on the topic. In 2005, author Michael Stoll defined job sprawl simply as jobs located more than 5-mile (8.0 km) radius from the CBD, and measured the concept based on year 2000 U.S. Census data. Other ways of measuring the concept with more detailed rings around the CBD include a 2001 article by Edward Glaeser and Elizabeth Kneebone's 2009 article, which show that sprawling urban peripheries are gaining employment while areas closer to
924-549: A large stack interchange complex roughly where the Carter Center exists today, east of downtown Atlanta. Interstate 420 would have skirted the city limits of Atlanta to the south, running from Interstate 20 in Decatur to Douglasville . The center portion of what would have become I-420 was constructed, and exists as Langford Parkway . Additional local protests and legislative action ended planning and construction of
1056-486: A map of proposed routes. Construction of the elevated Embarcadero Freeway along the downtown waterfront also helped to organize the opposition, articulated by architecture critic Allan Temko , who began writing for the Chronicle in 1961. The 1955 San Francisco Trafficways Plan included the following routes that were never completed: The 1960 Trafficways Plan deleted several of these routes but added another: In 1959,
1188-516: A model Pulliam did not want Phoenix embracing. The rhetoric became so heated that in 1973 a non-binding public advisory election was held, resulting (largely due to Pulliam's regular editorial tirades) in an overwhelming "no" vote for the existing plan. The city and the Arizona State Highway Department (now Arizona Department of Transportation ) scrapped the plans without further efforts for the central city segment. As
1320-755: A number of environmental organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council , the Sierra Club , the Surfrider Foundation and others, along with the California State Parks Foundation, banded together to stop a planned extension to the SR 241 Foothill South Toll Road . The groups contend that the project threatens the fragile San Mateo Creek Watershed and would result in the loss of
1452-592: A partially completed expressway in northern Pennsylvania and Upstate New York ) between Hartford and Sturbridge, Massachusetts in 1983. The already-completed portions of this extension was redesignated as Interstate 384 and US-6 Windham Bypass. CONNDOT and the FHWA intended to construct the US-6 Freeway through Andover, Bolton, and Coventry to link I-384 and the Windham Bypass. After 40 years since it
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#17327834100151584-690: A pejorative way. According to the National Resources Inventory (NRI), about 44 million acres (69,000 sq mi; 180,000 km ) of land in the United States was developed between 1982 and 2017. Presently, the NRI classifies approximately 100,000 more square kilometres (40,000 square miles) (an area approximately the size of Kentucky ) as developed than the Census Bureau classifies as urban. The difference in
1716-551: A petition in opposition. Nevertheless, the commission included the route in the 1955 Berkeley Master Plan. A 1957 public hearing drew 100 protesters. The 1959 Alameda County transportation plan attempted to relocate the proposed freeway to the Oakland–Berkeley border, but Oakland was no more receptive to the freeway, and the Berkeley City Council voted to stop planning it in 1961. In Bakersfield, California ,
1848-408: A planning approach and those advocating the efficiency of the market". Those who criticize sprawl tend to argue that sprawl creates more problems than it solves and should be more heavily regulated, while proponents argue that markets are producing the economically most efficient settlements possible in most situations, even if problems may exist. However, some market-oriented commentators believe that
1980-660: A play on its greenish color and on the name of the tall left field wall in Fenway Park . Starting in 1991, the Central Artery was rerouted into a replacement tunnel network , and the elevated highway was demolished and replaced by linear parks and new buildings, in a massive project known as the " Big Dig ". There was also a plan in Western Massachusetts of an upgrade of U.S. Route 7 from Lee to Pittsfield and points north of there. The highway
2112-446: A result, the places where people live, work, shop, and recreate are far from one another, usually to the extent that walking, transit use and bicycling are impractical, so all these activities generally require a car. The degree to which different land uses are mixed together is often used as an indicator of sprawl in studies of the subject. According to this criterion, China's urbanization can be classified as "high-density sprawl",
2244-429: A seemingly self-contradictory term coined by New Urbanist Peter Calthorpe . He explains that despite the high-rise buildings, China's superblocks (huge residential blocks) are largely single-use and surrounded by giant arterial roads, which detach different functions of a city and create an environment unfriendly to pedestrians. Job sprawl is another land use symptom of urban sprawl and car-dependent communities. It
2376-692: A significant portion of the popular San Onofre State Beach Park. In 2006, the coalition filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Corridor Agency – the agency responsible for the project – stating that deficiencies in the project's environmental impact report violated the California Environmental Quality Act . The groups were joined in the lawsuit by the California State Attorney General's Office. State Route 252
2508-573: A two-lane road, but rebuilding that segment straightened curves, added shoulders and turning pockets, and reduced the number of roadways and driveways intersecting the road to improve safety. Local opposition, particularly in the town of Wilton , convinced a federal judge to halt construction of the U.S. Route 7 Expressway (originally envisioned to be a segment of the then-proposed Interstate 89 through western New England) between Norwalk and Danbury in 1972. State and federal highway officials subsequently prepared an environmental impact statement for
2640-417: Is a natural product of population increases, higher wages, and therefore better access to housing. Improvement in transportation also means that individuals are able to live further from large cities and industrial hubs, thus increasing demand for better housing further from the noise of cities. This leads to the creation of sprawling residential land development surrounding densely packed urban areas. Despite
2772-479: Is argued that human beings, while social animals, need significant amounts of social space or they become agitated and aggressive. However, the relationship between higher densities and increased social pathology has been largely discredited. According to Nancy Chin, a large number of effects of sprawl have been discussed in the academic literature in some detail; however, the most contentious issues can be reduced "to an older set of arguments, between those advocating
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#17327834100152904-576: Is commonly linked to increased dependency on cars. In 2003, a British newspaper calculated that urban sprawl would cause an economic loss of £3,905 per year, per person through cars alone, based on data from the RAC estimating that the average cost of operating a car in the UK at that time was £5,000 a year, while train travel (assuming a citizen commutes every day of the year, with a ticket cost of 3 pounds) would be only £1,095. Additionally, increased density increases
3036-431: Is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses, dense multi–family apartments, office buildings and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a more or less densely populated city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for very dense urban planning . Sometimes
3168-571: Is defined as low-density, geographically spread-out patterns of employment, where the majority of jobs in a given metropolitan area are located outside of the main city's central business district (CBD), and increasingly in the suburban periphery. It is often the result of urban disinvestment , the geographic freedom of employment location allowed by predominantly car-dependent commuting patterns of many American suburbs, and many companies' desire to locate in low-density areas that are often more affordable and offer potential for expansion. Spatial mismatch
3300-414: Is defined by negative characteristics. What constitutes sprawl may be considered a matter of degree and will always be somewhat subjective under many definitions of the term. Ewing has also argued that suburban development does not, per se , constitute sprawl depending on the form it takes, although Gordon & Richardson have argued that the term is sometimes used synonymously with suburbanization in
3432-511: Is due. Thus urban sprawl is subsidized by the tax code. In China, land has been converted from rural to urban use in advance of demand, leading to vacant rural land intended for future development, and eventual urban sprawl. Housing subdivisions are large tracts of land consisting entirely of newly built residences. New Urbanist architectural firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company state that housing subdivisions "are sometimes called villages, towns, and neighbourhoods by their developers, which
3564-684: Is in contrast to New York, San Francisco or Chicago which have compact, high-density cores surrounded by areas of very low-density suburban periphery, such as eastern Suffolk County in the New York metro area and Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area . Some cases of sprawl challenge the definition of the term and what conditions are necessary for urban growth to be considered sprawl. Metropolitan regions such as Greater Mexico City , Delhi National Capital Region Beijing , and
3696-422: Is misleading since those terms denote places that are not exclusively residential". They are also referred to as developments. Subdivisions often incorporate curved roads and cul-de-sacs . These subdivisions may offer only a few places to enter and exit the development, causing traffic to use high volume collector streets. All trips, no matter how short, must enter the collector road in a suburban system. After
3828-619: Is more geographically ubiquitous in the mainland United States than any other human activity. Urban sprawl is disruptive to native flora & fauna and introduces invasive plants into their environments. Although the effects can be mitigated through careful maintenance of native vegetation, the process of ecological succession and public education, sprawl represents one of the primary threats to biodiversity. Regions with high birth rates and immigration are therefore faced with environmental problems due to unplanned urban growth and emerging megacities such as Kolkata. Other problems include: At
3960-442: Is often regarded unsustainable". Bhatta et al. wrote in 2010 that despite a dispute over the precise definition of sprawl, there is a "general consensus that urban sprawl is characterized by [an] unplanned and uneven pattern of growth, driven by a multitude of processes and leading to inefficient resource utilization". Reid Ewing has shown that sprawl has typically been characterized as urban developments exhibiting at least one of
4092-416: Is related to job sprawl and economic environmental justice . Spatial mismatch is defined as the situation where poor urban, predominantly minority citizens are left without easy access to entry-level jobs, as a result of increasing job sprawl and limited transportation options to facilitate a reverse commute to the suburbs. Job sprawl has been documented and measured in various ways. It has been shown to be
Highway revolts in the United States - Misplaced Pages Continue
4224-649: Is the shopping mall . Unlike the strip mall, this is usually composed of a single building surrounded by a parking lot that contains multiple shops, usually "anchored" by one or more department stores . The function and size is also distinct from the strip mall. The focus is almost exclusively on recreational shopping rather than daily goods. Shopping malls also tend to serve a wider (regional) public and require higher-order infrastructure such as highway access and can have floorspaces in excess of 1 million sq ft (93,000 m ). Shopping malls are often detrimental to downtown shopping centres of nearby cities since
4356-826: The Cato Institute , a libertarian think tank , has argued that sprawl, thanks to the automobile, gave rise to affordable suburban neighborhoods for middle class and lower class individuals, including non-whites. He notes that efforts to combat sprawl often result in subsidizing development in wealthier and whiter neighborhoods while condemning and demolishing poorer minority neighborhoods. The American Institute of Architects , American Planning Association , and Smart Growth America recommend against sprawl and instead endorses smart , mixed-use development , including buildings in close proximity to one another that cut down on automobile use, save energy, and promote walkable, healthy, well-designed neighborhoods. The Sierra Club ,
4488-605: The Central Artery and the segment of Interstate 93 between East Somerville and the Charles River. However, some proposals for controlled-access freeways have been debated and finalized as a compromise to build them as at-grade expressways. In Phoenix, Arizona , regional planners had long planned a general belt loop and several freeways crossing the Salt River Valley through much of Phoenix, with
4620-716: The Greater Tokyo Area are often regarded as sprawling despite being relatively dense and mixed use. Many theories speculate as to the reason for the creation of urban sprawl. The theory of "flight from blight" explains that aspects of living in urban areas, such as high taxes, crime rates, poor infrastructure and school qualities lead to many people moving out of urban areas and into surrounding suburban areas. According to The Limits to Growth , reasons why wealthier people move to suburbs include noise, pollution, crime, drug addiction, poverty, labor strikes, and breakdown of social services. Others suggest that Urban Sprawl
4752-620: The Merritt Parkway , all of which have been thwarted by the efforts of conservationists who oppose the destruction of the Parkway's uniquely designed bridges and rustic character. The Oak Street Connector was a proposed east-west freeway originally envisioned to connect New Haven with Danbury , largely paralleling Route 34. Construction on the initial (and only completed) segment in downtown New Haven from Interstate 95 to York Street began in 1957, with its opening in 1959. Opposition to
4884-540: The Mississippi River in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Local preservationists worked to build popular support to stop the proposed elevated expressway in the 1960s. Freeways Interstate 95 , Interstate 83 , and Interstate 70 are not directly connected to each other inside Baltimore city limits because of freeway revolts led by activist and later politician Barbara Mikulski . Mikulski became
5016-683: The Outer Perimeter and the Northern Arc, which would have surrounded Atlanta about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the present Perimeter Highway . The Amstutz Expressway was meant to be a lakeshore expressway in North Chicago and Waukegan . However, a large portion in northern North Chicago was never completed, so the road exists in two small portions. The Waukegan portion is frequently referred to as "The Highway to Nowhere" because of its uselessness. Sheridan Road runs along
5148-542: The SR 178 freeway terminates two miles east of the SR 99 freeway. The section through downtown Bakersfield and the Westchester residential district was never completed due to opposition from Westchester residents. The controversy continues to this day, as the Bakersfield City Council's plans to widen Highway 178 through the Westchester area are being strongly protested. In Southern California,
5280-664: The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors submitted a request to the state legislature to remove several planned freeways from active planning. Among these were a section of State Route 65 , State Route 143 , and State Route 244 ; Caltrans had already acquired rights of way for portions of the routes, which would cost $ 149 million to build (in 1973 dollars). Cuesta Freeway was intended to connect US 101 in San Luis Obispo with an interchange at Marsh Street exit to Cuesta College . This proposed section
5412-804: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to cancel seven of ten planned freeways, including an extension of the Central Freeway . In 1964, protests against a freeway through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park led to its cancellation, and in 1966 the Board of Supervisors rejected an extension of the Embarcadero Freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge . Opposition to the Embarcadero Freeway continued, and in 1985,
Highway revolts in the United States - Misplaced Pages Continue
5544-559: The Second World War , residential lawns became commonplace in suburbs, notably, but not exclusively in North America. The development of country clubs and golf courses in the early 20th century further promoted lawn culture in the United States. Lawns now take up a significant amount of land in suburban developments, contributing to sprawl. In areas of sprawl, commercial use is generally segregated from other uses. In
5676-492: The post-World War II economic expansion , there was a major drive to build a freeway network in the United States, including (but not limited to) the Interstate Highway System . Design and construction began in earnest in the 1950s, with many cities and rural areas participating. However, many of the proposed freeway routes were drawn up without considering local interests; in many cases, the construction of
5808-415: The urban areas described as the most "sprawling" are the most densely populated. In addition to describing a special form of urbanization , the term also relates to the social and environmental consequences associated with this development. In modern times some suburban areas described as "sprawl" have less detached housing and higher density than the nearby core city . Medieval suburbs suffered from
5940-532: The 10–35 mile ring. This compares to the year 1998 – 23.3%, 34.2%, and 42.5% in those respective rings. The study shows CBD employment share shrinking, and job growth focused in the suburban and exurban outer metropolitan rings. Sprawl often refers to low- density development . There is no precise definition of "low density", but it might commonly mean Single-family homes on large lots. Such buildings usually have fewer stories and are spaced farther apart, separated by lawns , landscaping , roads or parking lots. In
6072-669: The 1960s, there were a number of proposals for new expressways. These included the Skyline Freeway from Commerce City to Morrison, the Hampden Freeway through Englewood, the Columbine Freeway which would have gone up Santa Fe, Downing, and Park Avenue West before leaving Denver via North Pecos Street, the Mountain Freeway which would have replaced all of Alameda, and The Quebec Freeway from I-70 all
6204-572: The 1970s, further enhanced by concern over the energy crisis and rising fuel costs, as well as a growing environmentalist movement. Responding to massive anti-highway protests in Boston, in February 1970 Governor Francis W. Sargent of Massachusetts ordered a halt to planning and construction of all planned expressways inside the Route 128 loop highway, with the exception of the remaining segments of
6336-531: The Board of Supervisors voted to demolish it. It was closed after sustaining heavy damage in 1989's Loma Prieta earthquake and torn down shortly thereafter. The entire portion of the Central Freeway north of Market Street was demolished over the next decade: the top deck in 1996, and the lower deck in 2003. Two other short freeway segments were demolished in the same time period: the Terminal Separator Structure near Rincon Hill and
6468-749: The Brookfield Bypass began in 2007 and opened in 2009. Similarly, CONNDOT planned to construct a new freeway for Route 25 between I-95 in Bridgeport and I-84 in Newtown . Construction began on the Route 25 freeway in 1968, and the existing portion between I-95 and Route 111 in Trumbull opened in 1975. Opposition from environmental groups and residents in the towns of Monroe and Newtown forced CONNDOT to eventually kill plans for extending
6600-463: The CBD are losing jobs. These two authors used three geographic rings limited to a 35-mile (56 km) radius around the CBD: 3 miles (4.8 km) or less, 3 to 10 miles (16 km), and 10 to 35 miles (56 km). Kneebone's study showed the following nationwide breakdown for the largest metropolitan areas in 2006: 21.3% of jobs located in the inner ring, 33.6% of jobs in the 3–10 mile ring, and 45.1% in
6732-596: The Central Artery and the East Boston, Western, Northern, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Expressways. Over time, several of the planned highways were constructed: In 1970, Governor Francis W. Sargent ordered the Boston Transportation Planning Review , a review of all freeway plans within the Route 128 beltway around Boston . As a result, several freeways were canceled in 1971 and 1972: The Northern Expressway
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#17327834100156864-686: The Danbury Fair Mall in 1986, and from Route 123 to Gristmill Road in Norwalk in 1992, before funds for further construction were exhausted. The proposal remained on the books until the CONNDOT canceled expressway plans in 1999 in lieu of widening the existing Route 7 to 4 lanes, citing a lack of funding and no feasible route that would avoid the environmentally sensitive Norwalk River basin. Some in Connecticut have been seeking to revive
6996-469: The Denver suburbs of Broomfield and Golden, where fierce opposition to the road continues. Golden is opposed to completion of the beltway; Broomfield supports it, and has been exploring alternate routes. In 1973 environmentalists filed lawsuits that effectively killed construction of the planned Interstate 291 beltway west of Interstate 91 , the proposed Interstate 484 expressway through the downtown, and
7128-496: The Embarcadero Freeway, and the stub end of Interstate 280 near Mission Bay . In Oakland, California , the Richmond Boulevard Freeway would have run along Valdez Street, Richmond Boulevard, Glen Echo Creek, and Moraga Avenue from 20th Street to SR 13 . It was approved by Oakland voters in a 1945 bond issue, but was canceled August 16, 1956, when the city of Piedmont was unable to pay for its portion of
7260-531: The Illiana Expressway from the state's five-year transportation plan, effectively stripping funding for the Illinois portion of the highway. Indiana Governor Mike Pence followed suit in suspending Indiana's portion of the Illiana Expressway in February 2015. When I-10 was built through New Orleans, Louisiana , a segment of formerly tree-lined ground along Claiborne Avenue was destroyed to build
7392-540: The Illiana Expressway was envisioned to start at Interstate 57 in eastern Illinois, then intersect Interstate 65 near Lowell, Indiana before turning northeast, crossing US-30 near Valparaiso before terminating at the Indiana Toll Road . Due to opposition from environmental and community groups; and operators of the Indiana Toll Road , the section east of I-65 was dropped, but the Illiana Expressway
7524-526: The Loop with Midway Airport, and an extension to the CTA's Blue Line , connecting downtown with O'Hare International Airport . The Illinois 53 freeway was planned to be extended into Lake County from its northern terminus at Lake Cook Road . The extension would have met a planned bypass for Illinois 120 near Grayslake , where it would split two ways. The eastern branch would head towards Interstate 94 , while
7656-593: The Mound freeway conversion on its east. Highway revolts Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.132 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 947508307 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:43:30 GMT Urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment )
7788-546: The NRI classification is that it includes rural development, which by definition cannot be considered to be "urban" sprawl. Currently, according to the 2000 Census , approximately 2.6 percent of the U.S. land area is urban. Approximately 0.8 percent of the nation's land is in the 37 urbanized areas with more than 1,000,000 population. In 2002, these 37 urbanized areas supported around 40% of the total American population. Nonetheless, some urban areas like Detroit have expanded geographically even while losing population. But it
7920-557: The New Haven Railyard and construct a 4-lane landscaped boulevard in its place. A portion of the land recovered from the freeway would be sold for development, while the remainder reserved as park space. Demolition of the Route 34 freeway began in 2013, with completion scheduled for 2016. Similarly, the Connecticut Department of Transportation plans to remove the freeway stub at I-84 in Newtown and replace
8052-403: The Route 25 freeway north of Route 111 in 1992. The department has instead focused on widening the existing 2-lane roadway, which is supported by Trumbull and Monroe. However, Newtown remains opposed to any upgrades that would change the existing 2-lane profile of Route 25 through its town. Since its opening in 1940, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has floated various plans to widen
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#17327834100158184-521: The Route 34 freeway between York Street and Route 10 in New Haven in 2002, effectively ensuring the freeway could not be extended beyond York Street. Meanwhile, officials and community groups in New Haven began pressing the State of Connecticut to remove the existing freeway through downtown. In 2011, the city of New Haven and State of Connecticut reached an agreement to remove the Route 34 freeway west of
8316-475: The San Francisco Bay Area's Greenbelt Alliance , 1000 Friends of Oregon and counterpart organizations nationwide, and other environmental organizations oppose sprawl and support investment in existing communities. NumbersUSA , a national organization advocating immigration reduction , also opposes urban sprawl, and its founder, Roy Beck , specializes in the study of this issue. One of
8448-513: The U.S. and Canada, these often take the form of strip malls , which refer to collections of buildings sharing a common parking lot, usually built on a high-capacity roadway with commercial functions (i.e., a "strip"). Similar developments in the United Kingdom are called Retail Parks. Strip malls consisting mostly of big box stores or category killers are sometimes called "power centers" (U.S.). These developments tend to be low-density;
8580-450: The United States 2–4 houses per acre (5–10 per hectare) might be considered low-density while in the UK 8–12 per acre (or 20–30 per hectare) would still be considered low-density. Because more automobiles are used in the USA, much more land is designated for parking. The impact of low density development in many communities is that developed or "urbanized" land is increasing at a faster rate than
8712-457: The average number of residential units per acre in a given area. Others associate it with decentralization (spread of population without a well-defined centre), discontinuity ( leapfrogging development, as defined below ), segregation of uses, and so forth. The term urban sprawl is highly politicized and almost always has negative connotations. It is criticized for causing environmental degradation , intensifying segregation , and undermining
8844-526: The buildings are single-story and there is ample space for parking and access for delivery vehicles. This character is reflected in the spacious landscaping of the parking lots and walkways and clear signage of the retail establishments. Some strip malls are undergoing a transformation into Lifestyle centers ; entailing investments in common areas and facilities (plazas, cafes) and shifting tenancy from daily goods to recreational shopping. Another prominent form of retail development in areas characterized by sprawl
8976-532: The cancelled Route 25 freeway extension) built in the mid-1970s, and a short freeway segment near the Maltby Lakes in Orange that was completed in the 1980s but never put into service. The completed section in Orange was initially used as a commuter parking lot, but now serves as an access road to Yale New Haven Hospital 's Regional Operations Center. The State of Connecticut sold off land originally cleared for
9108-478: The chance that people will take the bicycle for their commute which would be better for their health. Bicycles are a common mode of transportation for those living in urban centers due to many factors. One major factor many people consider relates to how, when one rides a bike to, say, their workplace, they are exercising as they do so. This multi-tasking is better for one's health than automatic transport. A heavy reliance on automobiles increases traffic throughout
9240-491: The city as well as automobile crashes, pedestrian injuries, and air pollution. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of five and twenty-four and is the leading accident-related cause for all age groups. Residents of more sprawling areas are generally at greater risk of dying in a car crash due to increased exposure to driving. Evidence indicates that pedestrians in sprawling areas are at higher risk than those in denser areas, although
9372-402: The city have been canceled due to community opposition. In the 1970s, there were plans for several freeways in the Tampa Bay area , but most were canceled by 1982. The high cost of acquiring right of way in this densely populated area, as well as community opposition, were the key factors in canceling most of these freeways. Instead, planners decided to widen existing roads. Local opposition
9504-450: The completed east-bound portion of I-10 advanced closer, transportation planners pushed for some resolution. By 1984 traffic gridlock had reached the point where planners devised a new plan, with I-10 still running although roughly the same alignment, but instead with the central city portion tunneled through downtown, with a large park on top. The revised I-10/Papago Freeway was opened in 1990. In Tucson, Arizona , proposed Interstate 710
9636-454: The conversion of agricultural land to urban use is not a problem due to the increasing efficiency of agricultural production; they argue that aggregate agricultural production is still more than sufficient to meet global food needs despite the expansion of urban land use. Sprawl leads to increased driving, which in turn leads to vehicle emissions that contribute to air pollution and its attendant negative impacts on human health . In addition,
9768-611: The current custom of requiring a developer to provide subdivision infrastructure as a condition of development. Usually, the developer is required to set aside a certain percentage of the developed land for public use, including roads, parks and schools. In the past, when a local government built all the streets in a given location, the town could expand without interruption and with a coherent circulation system, because it had condemnation power . Private developers generally do not have such power (although they can sometimes find local governments willing to help), and often choose to develop on
9900-703: The current patterns of sprawl are in fact the result of distortions of the free market. Chin cautions that there is a lack of "reliable empirical evidence to support the arguments made either for or against sprawl". She mentions that the lack of a common definition, the need for more quantitative measures "a broader view both in time and space, and greater comparison with alternative urban forms" would be necessary to draw firmer conclusions and conduct more fruitful debates. Arguments opposing urban sprawl include concrete effects such as health and environmental issues as well as abstract consequences including neighborhood vitality. American public policy analyst Randal O'Toole of
10032-492: The desirability of the area adjacent to such structures. Providing services such as water , sewers , road maintenance, and electricity is also more expensive per household in less dense areas, given that sprawl increases lengths of power lines, roads, and pipes, necessitating higher maintenance costs. Residents of low-density areas spend a higher proportion of their income on transportation than residents of high density areas. The unplanned nature of outward urban development
10164-442: The directional interchange with a diamond interchange. ConnDOT also plans to build a rest area in the location of the current freeway stub once its removal is complete. In the 1970s, most of South Florida 's expressways were canceled due to voters choosing to direct funding away from roads toward mass transit projects and the planned Miami Metrorail . Hialeah in particular is anti-expressway, as many proposals for expressways in
10296-532: The dismantling of infrastructure that occurred in the United States. Despite its sprawl, Metropolitan Los Angeles is the densest major urban area (over 1,000,000 population) in the US, being denser than the New York urban area and the San Francisco urban area. Most of metropolitan Los Angeles is built at more uniform low to moderate density, leading to a much higher overall density for the entire region. This
10428-423: The elevated highway; because Claiborne Avenue was the main thoroughfare in a poorer, African-American neighborhood , many in the community considered this to be racially prejudiced. While local efforts to stop this route of I-10 were unsuccessful, the disruption motivated residents to oppose further planned freeways through historic neighborhoods. The proposed Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway would have run along
10560-472: The expressway proposal, including those who originally opposed it, citing the rapidly increasing volume of traffic and the number of fatal accidents on the existing Route 7 over the past 20 years. Further north on US-7 however, officials in Brookfield have long pushed CONNDOT to construct a new US-7 freeway to the west of Brookfield. After decades of environmental studies and intense debate, construction on
10692-518: The expressway the entire length. There were plans to upgrade Lake Shore Drive to full Interstate standards, and two separate designations were proposed for this upgrade. First designated as Interstate 494 (before that designation was moved to the Crosstown Expressway ), and later, Interstate 694, the project was canceled after opposition from North Side residents who didn't want an interstate in their communities, fearing that land along
10824-491: The expressway, and a Federal judge allowed construction to resume in 1983. By then however, the cost of construction had skyrocketed and there were no longer any funds available to complete the expressway, as all highway funds were diverted into a massive statewide highway repair program in the wake of the Mianus River Bridge collapse months earlier. Two short extensions of the Route 7 freeway were completed near
10956-442: The extent of modern sprawl has consumed a large amount of the most productive agricultural land, as well as forest, desert and other wilderness areas. In the United States the seller may avoid tax on profit by using a tax break exempting like-kind exchanges from capital gains tax ; proceeds from the sale are used to purchase agricultural land elsewhere and the transaction is treated as a "swap" or trade of like assets and no tax
11088-449: The failed Fox Valley Freeway efforts and was proposed to connect Interstate 80 and Interstate 88 in the outer western and southwestern suburbs. Despite getting over $ 200 million in earmarked funds, intense local opposition canceled the project in the early 2010s. The Peoria to Chicago Highway was a proposal that would have connected the cities of Peoria and Chicago with a direct multilane freeway. The Illinois interstate highway plan in
11220-768: The final ten miles of Interstate 96 along Grand River Avenue from the Jeffries to the Northwest corner of the city, the already in progress conversion of Mound Road to the M-53 freeway from Detroit City Airport to the Van Dyke Expressway , and a planned extension of the Davison Freeway on both ends which was to be a connector with both Interstate 96 and the Jeffries Freeway on its west to
11352-496: The following characteristics: low-density or single-use development, strip development, scattered development, and/or leapfrog development (areas of development interspersed with vacant land). He argued that a better way to identify sprawl was to use indicators rather than characteristics because this was a more flexible and less arbitrary method. He proposed using " accessibility " and "functional open space" as indicators. Ewing's approach has been criticized for assuming that sprawl
11484-557: The freeway in New Haven increased as homes and businesses between York Street and Route 10 were razed to extend the Route 34 freeway, resulting in lawsuits that halted further construction on the highway in the late 1960s and 1970s. Further west, residents in the town of Orange opposed the Route 34 freeway as it would pass near a reservoir that supplies the region with its drinking water. Opponents further west along Route 34 in Monroe and Oxford filed additional lawsuits to block construction of
11616-433: The freeway system was considered a regional (or national) issue that trumped local concerns. Starting in 1956, in San Francisco, when many neighborhood activists became aware of the effect that freeway construction was having on local neighborhoods, effective city opposition to many freeway routes in many cities was raised; this led to the modification or cancellation of many proposed routes. The freeway revolts continued into
11748-576: The freeway would have run northward along and parallel to Cicero to the Edens – Kennedy junction on the north side of Chicago. The highway, which would have been designated Interstate 494, was canceled in 1979 by elected officials, who cited the $ 1.2 billion price tag as reason enough to terminate the project. Monies from the aborted highway ultimately went to the construction of the Chicago Transit Authority 's Orange Line , connecting
11880-694: The issue because Peoria asked for it. The Raoul Wallenberg Expressway, previously called the Woodruff Expressway, was a controversial plan that would have linked downtown Rockford, Illinois to Interstate 39 . In the 1940s and 1950s, as the Northwest Tollway (now the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway) was being routed through the Rockford area, local politicians debated the costs and benefits of various routings of
12012-556: The key feature to include a central-city portion of Interstate 10 , running just south of McDowell Road. I-10 had been built westbound to a point southwest of downtown, where it curved and merged into Interstate 17 . The largest unconstructed section of I-10 in the country, beginning just east of the Arizona-California border, was still in its planning stage when a debate began for the Phoenix section. Designers had evolved
12144-426: The lack of a clear agreed upon description of what defines sprawl most definitions often associate the following characteristics with sprawl. This refers to a situation where commercial, residential , institutional and industrial areas are separated from one another. Consequently, large tracts of land are devoted to a single use and are segregated from one another by open space, infrastructure, or other barriers. As
12276-593: The larger area consumed by sprawling suburbs compared to urban neighborhoods, more farmland and wildlife habitats are displaced per resident. As forest cover is cleared and covered with impervious surfaces ( concrete and asphalt ) in the suburbs, rainfall is less effectively absorbed into the groundwater aquifers . This threatens both the quality and quantity of water supplies. Sprawl increases water pollution as rain water picks up gasoline , motor oil , heavy metals , and other pollutants in runoff from parking lots and roads. Gordon & Richardson have argued that
12408-407: The loss of protection of city walls, before the advent of industrial warfare . Modern disadvantages and costs include increased travel time, transport costs, pollution, and destruction of the countryside. The revenue for building and maintaining urban infrastructure in these areas are gained mostly through property and sales taxes. Most jobs in the US are now located in suburbs generating much of
12540-667: The mid-1950s included a freeway from Peoria toward Chicago in the Interstate 180 corridor, but it was not approved by the Federal Highway Administration . In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Illinois adopted a supplemental freeway plan, and the Interstate 180 to Peoria extension was part of this plan, but very few of these freeways were actually built. The freeway was going to be designated as Interstate 53 as well as present-day I-155 and part of I-180. In
12672-545: The mid-1990s, the state revived the proposal, calling it the "Heart of Illinois Freeway." A few alternatives were selected, among them the Illinois 6 to Interstate 180 connection. In late 2000, the state decided to proceed with the 6/180 connection but ran into opposition from farmers and withdrawn support from political leaders. In February 2002, IDOT stated there were no traffic need for the freeway, only political and economic reasons for advocating it; and that they only studied
12804-425: The nearness of the workplace to retail and restaurant space that provides cafes and convenience stores with daytime customers is an essential component to the successful balance of urban life. Furthermore, they state that the closeness of the workplace to homes also gives people the option of walking or riding a bicycle to work or school and that without this kind of interaction between the different components of life
12936-435: The population is growing. Overall density is often lowered by " leapfrog development". This term refers to the relationship, or lack of it, between subdivisions. Such developments are typically separated by large green belts , i.e. tracts of undeveloped land, resulting in an overall density far lower even than the low density indicated by localized per-acre measurements. This is a 20th and 21st century phenomenon generated by
13068-647: The proposed Interstate 284 expressway between East Hartford and South Windsor , and Interstate 491 from Wethersfield to Manchester . After these freeways were cancelled, the State of Connecticut used the funds allocated for their construction to rebuild and expand existing freeways in the Greater Hartford area. In 1992 the Route 9 Expressway was extended north from I-91 in Cromwell to Interstate 84 in Farmington, completing what would have been
13200-428: The proposed Papago Freeway from a typical surface grade to a massive, elevated structure, rising 100 feet through the central city, with "helicoil" interchanges and a lengthy park under the structure. Led primarily by influential Arizona Republic publisher Eugene Pulliam (grandfather of future Vice President Dan Quayle ), a massive public relations opposition battle began, citing the freeway sprawl of Los Angeles as
13332-635: The reduced physical activity implied by increased automobile use has negative health consequences. Sprawl significantly predicts chronic medical conditions and health-related quality of life, but not mental health disorders. The American Journal of Public Health and the American Journal of Health Promotion, have both stated that there is a significant connection between sprawl, obesity , and hypertension . Loud vehicles can cause stress, prevent sleep, and minimize social interactions in public for people living in cities (especially homeless people). In
13464-657: The relationship is less clear than for drivers and passengers in vehicles. Research covered in the Journal of Economic Issues and State and Local Government Review shows a link between sprawl and emergency medical services response and fire department response delays. Living in larger, more spread out spaces generally makes public services more expensive. Since car usage becomes endemic and public transport often becomes significantly more expensive, city planners are forced to build highway and parking infrastructure , which in turn decreases taxable land and revenue, and decreases
13596-509: The revenue, although a lack of growth will require higher tax rates. In Europe , the term peri-urbanisation is often used to denote similar dynamics and phenomena, but the term urban sprawl is currently being used by the European Environment Agency . There is widespread disagreement about what constitutes sprawl and how to quantify it. For example, some commentators measure sprawl by residential density , using
13728-602: The route. In 1949, the Richmond Boulevard Protective Association had protested the route and its planned destruction of their homes. In Berkeley, California , the Ashby Freeway would have run approximately along the line of Ashby Avenue from Interstate 80 to California State Route 24 . The Berkeley Department of Public Works and Planning Commission proposed possible routings for it in 1952, and were met with 5,000 signatures on
13860-415: The same time, the urban cores of these and nearly all other major cities in the United States , Western Europe , and Japan that did not annex new territory experienced the related phenomena of falling household size and, particularly in the U.S., " white flight ", sustaining population losses. This trend has slowed somewhat in recent years, as more people have regained an interest in urban living. Due to
13992-628: The shopping malls act as a surrogate for the city centre . Some downtowns have responded to this challenge by building shopping centres of their own. Fast food chains are often built early in areas with low property values where the population is expected to boom and where large traffic is predicted, and set a precedent for future development. Eric Schlosser , in his book Fast Food Nation , argues that fast food chains accelerate suburban sprawl and help set its tone with their expansive parking lots, flashy signs, and plastic architecture (65). Duany Plater Zyberk & Company believe that this reinforces
14124-577: The shores of Lake Michigan would be lost. Lake Shore Drive remains a US route, rather than an interstate highway, with a mix of interchanges and at-grade intersections. The Crosstown Expressway was a proposed highway in the 1970s that would have run westward from near the present confluence of the Chicago Skyway and the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's south side toward Cicero Avenue near Midway International Airport . From there,
14256-496: The southwest quadrant of the I-291 beltway; the northwest quadrant of the canceled beltway is partially served by the 4-lane arterial Route 218 west of I-91 (Route 218 does not connect to I-84 or Route 9, leaving an approximately 7-mile gap in the northwest quadrant between I-84/Route 9 and Route 218). The Connecticut Department of Transportation eventually built its current headquarters on land originally acquired for I-291, where it
14388-573: The supply of housing in desirable areas, and thus, it also decreases housing prices in those areas (by the logic of supply and demand ). Urban sprawl may be partly responsible for the decline in social capital in the United States. Compact neighborhoods can foster casual social interactions among neighbors, while sprawl creates barriers. Sprawl tends to replace public spaces with private spaces such as fenced-in backyards. Critics of sprawl maintain that sprawl erodes quality of life . Duany and Plater-Zyberk believe that in traditional neighborhoods
14520-458: The tollway. One of the proposed tollway alignments that would serve downtown was considered. This was eventually turned down in favor of an alignment that was located miles east of downtown. At the same time, the commercial center of Rockford had shifted from downtown to the East. In an effort to draw residents and businesses back to the traditional center of town, the idea of a new crosstown expressway
14652-411: The tracts that happen to be for sale at the time they want to build, rather than pay extra or wait for a more appropriate location. Some research argues that religious ideas about how humans should live (and die) promote low-density development and may contribute to urban sprawl. Land for sprawl is often taken from fertile agricultural lands , which are often located immediately surrounding cities;
14784-603: The urban pattern quickly falls apart. James Howard Kunstler has argued that poor aesthetics in suburban environments make them "places not worth caring about", and that they lack a sense of history and identity. Urban sprawl has class and racial implications in many parts of the world; the relative homogeneity of many sprawl developments may reinforce class and racial divides through residential segregation . Numerous studies link increased population density with increased aggression. Some people believe that increased population density encourages crime and anti-social behavior. It
14916-419: The vitality of existing urban areas, and is attacked on aesthetic grounds. The pejorative meaning of the term means that few openly support urban sprawl as such. The term has become a rallying cry for managing urban growth. The term urban sprawl was often used in the letters between Lewis Mumford and Frederic J. Osborn, firstly by Osborn in his 1941 letter to Mumford and later by Mumford, generally condemning
15048-512: The waste of agricultural land and landscape due to suburban expansions. The term was used in an article in The Times in 1955 as a negative comment on the state of London 's outskirts. Definitions of sprawl vary; researchers in the field acknowledge that the term lacks precision. Batty et al. defined sprawl as "uncoordinated growth: the expansion of community without concern for its consequences, in short, unplanned, incremental urban growth which
15180-500: The way to I-25. A planned Interstate 470 beltway around Denver met opposition, including from Governor Richard Lamm , an environmentalist, who promised to "drive a silver spike" through the project. Eventually, a compromise was reached, and the beltway was built, using three different designations: State Highway 470 , E-470 and the Northwest Parkway . Currently, a gap remains in the beltway, as it stops short of reaching
15312-473: The western branch would head towards the existing Route 120 in western Lake County. The extension was turned over to the Illinois Tollway for further study, which was authorized in 1993 to construct and operate the highway. Due to opposition from some vocal citizens and elected officials, the tollway dropped the environmental study in 2019, shelving the project indefinitely. Various attempts through
15444-603: The years following World War II, when vehicle ownership was becoming widespread, public health officials recommended the health benefits of suburbs due to soot and industrial fumes in the city center. However, air in modern suburbs is not necessarily cleaner than air in urban neighborhoods. In fact, the most polluted air is on crowded highways, where people in suburbs tend to spend more time. On average, suburban residents generate more per capita pollution and carbon emissions than their urban counterparts because of their increased driving, as well as larger homes. Sprawl also reduces
15576-713: The years to construct a freeway through the outer western suburbs of the Chicago metropolitan area were met with strong resistance and were ultimately unsuccessful. The Fox Valley Freeway was proposed to run from Interstate 55 in Plainfield to the Wisconsin border in Richmond , linking the far west suburbs. However, intense local opposition canceled the project in the 1990s. Later, the Prairie Parkway emerged from
15708-421: Was born. The highway was to follow the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad line from Interstate 39/ U.S. Route 20 interchange all the way to downtown Rockford. This partially-built interchange was built in the early 1980s, designed to allow for future extension northward. Part of this highway would have replaced Woodruff Avenue, a street that parallels the railroad, giving the expressway its original name. The highway
15840-698: Was extended westward to Interstate 55 in Illinois. Opponents filed a lawsuit to block construction of the Illiana Expressway in 2013, with a federal judge ordering a halt to work on the toll road in 2015. Officials from the Federal Highway Administration, Indiana and Illinois appealed the court's ruling to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2015. Meanwhile, in January 2015 Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner removed
15972-534: Was first planned, CONNDOT, the FHWA, and local officials remained deadlocked with the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers over the routing of the US-6 Freeway. Since the agencies involved could not come to an agreement, CONNDOT abandoned plans the US-6 Freeway in 2005. The department instead rebuilt the section of US-6 the freeway was intended to bypass in 2000. The section of US-6 between I-384 and Willimantic remains
16104-494: Was granted an exemption because it was nearly complete. Its final 3-mile (4.8 km) segment was completed in 1973 with a section from East Somerville to the North Station area of downtown Boston. The Central Artery had cut a swath through Downtown Boston neighborhoods, creating one of the greatest eyesores in urban America during the 1950s. Because of this, it would earn its nickname "The Other Green Monster", both
16236-410: Was intended to connect Interstate 5 to Interstate 805 . Ramps were constructed on I-805 at 43rd Street before the project was canceled in 1994 due to neighborhood opposition. The new freeway would have occupied a swath of land dividing Logan Heights . Much of the land intended for freeway construction is still unoccupied. The interchange ramps from I-805 now end in a strip mall. In December 1974,
16368-526: Was later renamed for Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat noted for saving many Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust. The project was eventually abandoned due to its heavy financial costs and the negative impacts the highway would have on its surrounding neighborhoods. In the northwest corner of Indiana, the Illiana Expressway was a proposed toll road as a southern bypass of Chicago . Originally,
16500-522: Was never built beyond I-95 exit 60; it was supposed to be connected to the Windlass Freeway ( MD-149 ), which was canceled as well. A small portion of the Windlass Freeway was constructed, and it is now signed as I-695 . Additional roads that would have formed a more complete freeway network in the city were abandoned or redesigned, leaving some short sections (the former I-170 , which was left unconnected to any other Interstate highway, so US 40
16632-496: Was not just urbanized areas in the U.S. that lost population and sprawled substantially. According to data in "Cities and Automobile Dependence" by Kenworthy and Laube (1999), urbanized area population losses occurred while there was an expansion of sprawl between 1970 and 1990 in Amsterdam , Netherlands; Brussels , Belgium; Copenhagen , Denmark; Frankfurt , Hamburg and Munich , Germany; and Zürich , Switzerland, albeit without
16764-483: Was post to be the new route for SR 1 . The new route was adopted in 1965 by Caltrans and would cost more than $ 2 million a mile for the 7.1 mile expansion. The plan for the new route was rejected by major opposition from the community at the October 11, 1971, San Luis Obispo city council meeting. Throughout the four-year duration of a $ 300M construction project to reroute U.S. Route 101 to the east side of Willits as
16896-714: Was re-routed onto it), or rights of way that were built as city streets rather than freeways (Martin Luther King Boulevard). The Washington Outer Beltway was also met with decades of opposition in Maryland's suburbs of Washington, D.C. Though it met with fierce opposition for 50 years, the section between I-370 and I-95 , known as the Intercounty Connector and signed as Maryland Route 200 , ultimately opened in 2011. The 1948 plan for Boston's inner suburbs included eight limited-access highways:
17028-611: Was responsible for the death knell of a number of freeway projects in Metro Atlanta , including the intown portion of the Stone Mountain Freeway from the existing U.S. 78 freeway to what is now Freedom Parkway in downtown Atlanta, and the intown portion of what would have been Interstate 485 . The northern part of that freeway was built as Georgia 400 , while the southern portion of the highway exists as Interstate 675 . The highways would have intersected in
17160-611: Was to follow current Kino Parkway from I-10 to Broadway Boulevard, connecting I-10 to the University of Arizona and the downtown area. However, heavy opposition to the freeway caused for its cancellation in 1982, and the Tucson area has long been opposed to the rapid urban sprawl and freeways ever since. In San Francisco , public opposition to freeways dates to 1955, when the San Francisco Chronicle published
17292-688: Was to have a 60-foot (18 m) median. There was also plans of a spur off to Dalton of Massachusetts Route 9 . Local opposition led to the demise of the Route 7 Freeway. In the 1970s, after significant protest about the Chrysler Freeway (I-75) destroying the Black Bottom neighborhood , Mayor Coleman Young used the issue as political capital by decreeing the cancellation all freeway projects in Detroit. City Council soon followed his wishes. This included three interconnected major projects,
17424-489: Was to intersect US-5 in Newington. Interstate 84 was originally planned to continue on an easterly course to Providence, Rhode Island , closely following US 6 through Tolland and Windham counties. Environmental concerns in Connecticut and Rhode Island led to the cancellation of this extension, and I-84 was shifted to the existing Wilbur Cross Highway (which had been designated I-86 ; this number has since reappeared on
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