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SPRAWL COSTS

SPRAWL ACROSS AMERICA

"The project of suburbia is the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.America has squandered its wealth in a living arrangement that has no future." -James HowardKunstler, The End of Suburbia.

"Planners and architects now agree that to improve the social and environmental condition of cities

the top priority is to cut car use." - Fred Pearce. EcoCities | Car Free Cities.

SOCIAL COSTS

Because wespendso much time isolated inourcarsandsuburbanhomes, wehave little timeoropportunity forsocialcontact,and thenormalrandom meetings that takeplace while walkingalongpedestrian friendly streetsandaroundpublicspaces. Because wespend moreand more timestuckin traffic, wehave lessand less time forvolunteeringandgetting involved inourcommunities. Inaddition, thecombinationof the formlessnessof thesuburbsalong withlow quality architecturehasanalienatingeffect onusall.

At the same time, our cities have been made unlivable by the automobile arriving in massquantities.

ECONOMIC COSTS

We now spend more time than ever in stressful traffic, and nearly 30% our income on car

payments, gas, maintenance, and insurance. A great majority of our tax dollars go towards the

endless building of roads and highways, with little left for valuable things like education, civic

buildings, quality architecture and public spaces, or the building of new modern train systems. Our

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futile attempt to make the car happy is draining our national economy as well as our own personal

savings.

In addition, highway and airport gridlock is strangling our national and regional economies as more

and more time is wasted stuck in traffic. This greatly reduces our nation's productivity while raising

the cost of doing business for everyone.

The Federal Highway Administration itself now agrees that building more roads does not relieve

congestion.

ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS

The constant exhaust fumes our car fleet pumps into the atmosphere daily takes it's toll on the

global environment in many ways, and continues to degrade all the natural systems we are

dependant on for life support. The continuous building of ever more roads and highways along

with sprawling low-density development is consuming miles of the irreplaceable natural

environment. Our beautiful wilderness areas, which are some of the greatest national treasures of

America, are quickly being transformed into asphalt deserts.

HEALTH COSTS

Our quality of life keeps getting worse as we are constantly stuck in traffic. Our ugly, car-

dominated environment is highly stressful, extremely unhealthy (from the constant toxic exhaust

fumes we breathe daily), and very deadly (from the endless car accidents). This stressful

environment takes its toll on us in countless ways: increased stress and rage, more alcoholism and

drug abuse, rising divorce rates, rising rates of cancer and other environmental diseases, and a

general dissatisfaction with our lives.

In addition, major health organizations point to the fact that a high percentage of Americans haveserious health problems due to being overweight. This is caused primarily by the lazy lifestyle

sprawl dictates with little or no walking or exercise as part of our daily routines.

SPRAWL IS NOT INEVITABLE. It is not an unavoidable symptom of modern growth. Sprawl is the

direct result of specific government transportation choices and policies, combined with archaic

zoning laws.

HOUSTON CONSUMED BY CARS A WALKABLE CITY