Providing
people with more choices in housing, shopping,
communities, and trans-portation is a key aim
of smart growth. Communities are increasingly
seeking these choices -- particularly a wider
range of transportation options -- in an effort
to improve beleaguered transportation systems.
Traffic congestion is worsening across the country.
Where in 1982 65 percent of travel occurred
in uncongested conditions, by 1997 only 36 percent
of peak travel occurred did so. In fact, according
to the Texas Transportation Institute, congestion
over the last several years has worsened in
nearly every major metropolitan area in the
United States.
In
response, communities are beginning to implement
new approaches to transportation planning, such
as better coordinating land use and transportation;
increasing the avail-ability of high quality
transit service; creating redundancy, resiliency
and connectivity within their road networks;
and ensuring connectivity between pedestrian,
bike, transit, and road facilities. In short,
they are coupling a multi-modal approach to
transportation with supportive development patterns,
to create a variety of transportation options.
