City vs Suburb Growth

I thought this was a telling infographic from this article from the WSJ today.  It confirms a lot of what we already know to be true here at NUR.  That is that preferences are shifting to a more walkable lifestyle where amenities are closer in proximity and people are more likely to have chance encounters with their neighbors.  If Roswell is going to thrive in the coming decades, we need to increase the choices available for a walkable urban lifestyle.  

source: Wall Street Journal

hat tip to ATL Urbanist

Friday Factiod: Atlanta's Driving Costs

AAA’s “Crashes vs. Congestion – What’s the Cost to Society?” reported metro Atlanta’s car crashes cost the area $10.8 billion, or $1.979 per person, in 2009. The report also noted 498 deaths and 62,263 injuries related to car crashes in metro Atlanta.

Almost 500 deaths a year on our roads.  We just accept it and move on.  Driving is the most dangerous thing that the average Atlantan does and we continue to want to widen roads, drive faster and live in an environment where the car dictates our lives.  We should be building places that don't require us to get into a car for every trip.

Atlanta Business Chronicle via ATLUrbanist

Friday Factoid: The Costs of Commuting

For each mile you drive across two times on your round trip to work daily, it multiplies to 500 miles per year, or a $170 annual fee.  For each of these miles, you waste about 6 minutes in the round trip, adding to 25 hours per year ($625 of your time).

So each mile you live from work steals $795 per year from you in commuting costs. $795 per year will pay the interest on $15,900 of house borrowed at a 5% interest rate.

In other words, a logical person should be willing to pay about $15,900 more for a house that is one mile closer to work, and $477,000 more for a house that is 30 miles closer to work. For a double-commuting couple, these numbers are $31,800 and $954,000.

from Lifehacker: The True Cost of Commuting

Friday Factiod: Transportation Expenditures

On average, people living in drivable suburban areas spend 24 percent of their annual income on transportation while those living in walkable urban areas spend about 16 percent.

via The Atlantic

Friday Factiod: Density and Productivity

Economists studying cities routinely find that after controlling for other variables, workers in denser places earn higher wages and are more productive. Some studies suggest that doubling density raises productivity by around 6 percent while others peg the impact at up to 28 percent. Some economists have concluded that more than half the variation in output per worker across the United States can be explained by density alone; density explains more of the productivity gap across states than education levels or industry concentrations or tax policies.

Excerpted from: One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities

h/t: Strong Towns Blog

Friday Factiod: Transit Time Warp

Transit carries less than 4 percent of work trips in the Atlanta metro region today — down from nearly 17 percent in 1960.

via The Transport Politic

If transit carried 17 percent of work trips today... we probably wouldn't need to widen as many roads...