Issues: Smart Growth

The need for increased driving in sprawling areas requires a massive and expensive network of highways and causes serious air pollution problems. As sprawl intensified between 1970 and 1990, the number of miles Americans drive each year doubled from one trillion to two trillion. In spite of continuing improvement in emission controls, highway vehicles still emit some 60 million tons of carbon monoxide every year as well as up to 50 percent of toxic air pollutants.

People who live and work in smart-growth communities are only a short walk away from a bus, light rail, or train stop. Because of clustered development and dedicated bicycle lanes and trails, smart growth communities are also bicycle friendly. Supporters of smart growth celebrated the fact that funding for public transportation, bike paths, and sidewalks increased during most of the 1990s. But in the last two years, funding to build new roads grew by 21 percent while funds for transportation alternatives, such as this light rail line, fell by 19 percent.

Photos: Top, Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Bottom, Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (Tri-Met)