Ongoing land development and rapid population growth in the Twin Cities region have generated many questions. Among those: how are improvements in highway transportation and patterns of land development in suburban and exurban areas associated? How are improvements in highway transportation infrastructure and patterns of land development in suburban and exurban areas of the Greater Twin Cities area associated? Do road improvements encourage land development, or is it the other way around? Do cause-effect relationships that link the two remain constant through the decades, or have they changed over the last 30 years?

These issues are explored in a new report titled Highway Improvements and Land Development Patterns in the Greater Twin Cities Area, 1970-1997: Measuring the Connections by Laura Smith, John Adams, Julie Cidell, and Barbara VanDrasek of the University's Department of Geography. The recently published report is the seventh in a series of the Transportation and Regional Growth Study.

The report takes a look at highway improvements and land development throughout 24 Minnesota and Wisconsin counties over three decades. Specifically, the report examines the link between transportation and four types of land development: residential, industrial, commercial, and office. Correlations between the timing of land development and the timing of transportation improvements for each of the four development types were also studied, as were the processes in which development seems to follow, as well as lead, highway transportation improvements.

The report's findings suggest that the impact of major highway improvements on land development patterns took one form in the 1970s, another in the 1980s, and still other forms in the 1990s. Study findings also illustrate how the lead-lag relationships differ by development type. The breadth of information in the study will be used to create guidelines to maximize future highway and land development.

The report is available on the Study's Web site at www.cts.umn.edu/trg or from CTS at 612-626-1077.