01373282

Component

Planners and academics have, for much of the past half century, studied development patterns to assess whether certain patterns are more costly than others for providing public infrastructure and services. A robust literature demonstrates that compact development can help reduce public expenditures for a host of public services and facilities. Armed with this understanding, planners in U.S. metropolitan areas have in recent years been using iterative scenario planning techniques to identify which future growth options might result in more efficient use of public funds. This paper traces the “costs of sprawl” and scenario planning literatures as they relate to transportation infrastructure costs and provides an analysis of 187 scenarios developed by U.S. metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) since 2000. Using case study and meta-analytical techniques, this paper shows show that compact development patterns are less costly per person for road infrastructure than more dispersed patterns and that scenario planning is a valuable method for understanding these relationships.  

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADA20 Metropolitan Policy, Planning, and Processes

01362476

12-3924

English

18p

2012

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Cost effectiveness; Costs; Forecasting; Infrastructure; Investments; Literature reviews; Metropolitan planning organizations; Programming (Planning); Urban sprawl

Finance; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General); I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-3924

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2012 5:20PM