Suburban Employment Centers: Probing the Influence of Site Features on the Journey-to-Work

Abstract

This paper argues that the low-density, single-use character of most suburban workplaces in the U.S. has contributed to worsening traffic congestion by making most workers highly dependent on their own automobiles for accessing jobs. To test this proposition, land use and transportation data are examined for fifty of the largest suburban employment centers in the nation. Differences in the share of trips made by various modes, commuting speeds, and levels of service on major thoroughfares connecting suburban centers are compared among clusters of centers. The densities, sizes, and land use mixtures of suburban workplaces are generally found to be important determinants of worker travel behavior and local traffic conditions.