HIGHWAY INTERCHANGE AREA DEVELOPMENT - SOME RECENT FINDINGS

BY COMBINING DATA ON 332 INTERCHANGES IN 16 STATES, THE AUTHOR HAS SHOWN THAT INTERCHANGE LAND DEVELOPMENT IS AFFECTED BOTH BY THE TYPE OF INTERSECTING HIGHWAY AND BY THE RELATIVE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE INTERCHANGE QUADRANTS. ACCORDING TO HIS REVIEW OF ALABAMA INTERCHANGES, A LARGE PART OF DEVELOPMENT NEAR PREDOMINANTLY RURAL INTERCHANGES CONSISTED OF HIGHWAY-ORIENTED BUSINESSES LIKE MOTELS, SERVICE STATIONS, AND RESTAURANTS. IN CONTRAST, A WINDSHIELD SURVEY OF THE CAPITAL BELTWAY AROUND WASHINGTON, D. C., DISCLOSED RAPID GROWTH IN THE NUMBERS OF APARTMENT HOUSES, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, SHOPPING CENTERS AND INDUSTRIAL PARKS AT PREDOMINANTLY SUBURBAN INTERCHANGES SUBSEQUENT TO HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION. IN OTHER RECENT STUDIES ON INTERCHANGES, MULTILINEAR REGRESSION ANALYSIS AND SIMULTANEOUS LINEAR MODELS WERE USED TO PREDICT INTERCHANGE LAND DEVELOPMENT AND TO SHOW THAT IMPORTANT FACTORS OF LAND DEVELOPMENT AT AN INTERCHANGE ARE TRAFFIC VOLUMES, DISTANCE TO THE NEAREST URBAN CENTER, AND POPULATIONS OF THE NEAREST URBAN CENTER. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORE PRECISE ANALYTICAL RESEARCH TOOLS AND THE FORMULATION OF A COMPLETE INTERCHANGE PLANNING PROCESS WOULD FACILITATE THE OPTIMAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHWAY INTERCHANGES AND, SIMULTANEOUSLY, PROTECT THEIR TRAFFIC CAPACITIES AS VITAL COMPONENTS OF AN EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION NETWORK. /AUTHOR/