Go to any major urban area with a serious highway congestion problem, and invariably youll find the same historical pattern in the background: a state DOT using a large sum of Federal highway funding went out decades ago and built a major highway in an area that wasnt heavily populated. Everything seemed to be done right back then. Then, over time, municipal governments all along that highway corridor said: Hey, what a great highway! Now we can approve shopping centers and residential subdivisions, and people can live out here and work in that city 10 miles away. Its only a 15-minute drive from here!
That sounded like a great plan until everyone had he same idea ... and within ten years that 15-minute drive became a two-hour ordeal.
This story has been repeated endlessly across the U.S. The crux of the problem is that everyone wants to have the authority for land use decisions vested in local governments, but they want someone else to pay for the infrastructure that is needed to support the development.
I’m sure that’s part of it.
It’s time to get all parties together, and get on track to build more infrastructure.