This article examines some of the hypotheses surrounding the argument over whether sprawl, the increasing distance between where people live and where they work, is causing commute times to rise, specifically looking at how sprawl is affecting travel behavior. Because of inadequacy of available data, authors warn their conclusions are tentative, but their analysis suggests that decentralized employment cuts the distance workers commute, though the time of the commute is not able to be calculated from the data available. Effects vary depending on which types of jobs are decentralized, which reflects the complex interplay of factors such as dual-worker households, the economics of travel and metropolitan dynamics. Data from California suggest that commute times have risen from 1990 to 2000, which can be explained by the phenomenon that rising incomes tend to be associated with longer commutes. Further research is needed on housing and job location decisions along with other elements.
Abstract