Land use influences how people get from here to there. In many Minnesota cities, zoning codes prohibit development patterns common 50 years ago when most children walked to school, and people shopped locally, and rode buses and streetcars. Today’s municipal codes often mandate development patterns that make it necessary for residents to drive everywhere for everything. Spread-out development patterns, with streets that are not well connected, add to infrastructure costs — for schools, sewer, water, roads and parking.

Today’s spread-out development patterns where housing, jobs, and shopping are all separated has high infrastructure costs, results in more car trips, more air pollution, fewer transit trips, and uses up far more land. Image courtesy of Calthorpe & Assoc. ^

<<< St. Louis Park is creating a new pedestrian-friendly downtown. When completed, the $120 million project on Excelsior Boulevard will include a mix of housing, retail and commercial uses. Excelsior Boulevard is a major bus route. Many other cities including Burnsville, Hopkins, and Coon Rapids are also building or revitalizing downtowns.

In 2001, a study examined three scenarios for accommodating the 280,000 new households and 360,000 new jobs expected in the Twin Cities region over the next 20 years. The options ranged from continuing today’s spread-out growth patterns to concentrating development in walkable mixed-use centers along transit corridors, with a greater diversity of housing types. The latter option projected infrastructure cost savings of $3 billion, the least traffic congestion, and the lowest level of air pollution when compared with the other two options (7).