Full Citation

Title: Freeway Revolts! The Quality of Life Effects of Highways

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2019

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Why do freeways affect the spatial organization of the economy? We identify freeway disamenities in urban areas and quantify their effects. First, freeways had negative effects on central neighborhoods but positive effects on suburban neighborhoods. These diverging patterns identify freeway disamenities in a theory where disamenities outweigh minimal access benefits near downtown, but superior access benefits outweigh disamenities on the periphery. Second, in a quantitative spatial general equilibrium model, the welfare costs of freeway disamenities are large, and one-third of the causal effect of freeways on central-city decline can be attributed to quality of life effects. Third, barrier effects are significant and a major factor in the disamenity value of living near a freeway. Disamenities from freeways, as opposed to their regional accessibility benefits, had large effects on the spatial structure of cities, suburbanization, and welfare.

Url: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c3bf/56d5f5788da523369ac389b054acf7299ca8.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Brinkman, Jeffrey; Lin, Jeffrey

Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Population Mobility and Spatial Demography

Countries: