INTRODUCTION
No single force has had a greater impact on the pattern of land development
in northeastern Ohio and the nation than the construction of highways.
Better highways have decreased the cost, in both time and money, of
transportation within and between urban areas. Cars helped people
relocate from housing near their workplace to housing in the suburbs.
Retail firms followed their customers to the suburbs and manufacturing
firms found it feasible to be located farther away from ports and
railroad terminals. Service oriented firms then followed. In short,
highway transportation improvements abetted other market forces that
encouraged increasing numbers of households and businesses to pick
suburban and rural locations.
Eventually, land uses responded to the lower overall cost of transportation.
Existing businesses and households in the urban area considered lower
transportation costs when they decided to relocate and would seek
locations in the area where highway capacity had been added. These
relocations increased the volume of traffic in the improved corridor
and whenever demand pushed against available road capacity, the solution
was to increase highway capacity. This increase would reduce congestion
to levels prior to making the improvements although only for a short
period of time.
There are other factors that influence land use, such as tax policies,
housing costs, crime rates, the quality of public education, the provision
of basic utilities, zoning codes, and land use plans. In evaluating
the linkage between transportation investments and land use, the characteristics
of the proposed transportation investment are important, as well as
the characteristics of the geographic areas that will be impacted
by the transportation investments.
Nonetheless, transportation investment, by providing accessibility
and mobility, plays an integral, albeit key role, in the way individuals
and businesses make land use decisions.
The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) emphasizes
the consideration of the land use impacts of transportation investments.
This land use impact analysis is to assist the Ohio Department of
Transportation District 12 in complying with the mandates of ISTEA.
As a result of ODOT District 12's recommendation to widen I-71 from
four to six lanes, this analysis focuses on the land use implications
of that recommendation. Until other alternatives such as transit services,
commuter rail and other transportation demand measures are better
defined for this corridor, this report should not be considered as
complete. Therefore, this report does not make any conclusions or
recommendations but is merely an attempt to lay out the issues that
are integral to land use and transportation in the northeast Ohio
region.
The outline of this report uses as its template the National Transportation
Institute's Desk Reference Manual for Major Investment Studies. The
framework begins with an evaluation of historic land use trends in
the region in the Section Historical Development. This section analyzes
the population, employment and household growth in the area to understand
the role that transportation, in general, and current facilities and
services, in particular, have played in land development.
Conditions and Trends analyzes the current conditions and trends such
as population and employment projections, journey to work, and traffic
conditions on I-71 to assess the degree to which they currently or
may impact transportation and land use in Cuyahoga and Medina Counties.
Impacts of Increased Development in the I-71 Corridor ties these trends
and conditions together and estimates the impacts on land use that
would result from the increased capacity on I-71; determines the future
community service needs based on this development; reviews the environmental
effects that have occured or may occur; examines the impact on minority
and low-income populations in the region; and the social impacts of
development in areas of growth and decline.
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