Freeway Revolts! The Quality of Life Effects of Highways

Jeffrey Brinkman and Jeffrey Lin

No 22-24, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Abstract: Why do freeways affect spatial structure? We identify and quantify the local disamenity effects of freeways. Freeways cause slower growth in central neighborhoods (where local disamenities exceed regional accessibility benefits) compared with outlying neighborhoods (where access benefits exceed disamenities). A quantitative model calibrated to Chicago attributes one-third of the effect of freeways on central-city decline to reduced quality of life. Barrier effects are a major factor in the disamenity value of a freeway. Local disamenities from freeways, as opposed to their regional accessibility benefits, had large effects on the spatial structure of cities, suburbanization, and welfare.

Keywords: amenities; central cities; commuting costs; highways; suburbanization; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N72 N92 O18 Q51 R14 R23 R41 R42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 109
Date: 2022-08-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2022.24

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