Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
How Transportation Technology Has
Shaped Urban Travel Patterns
2.1 Introduction
The primary functions of transportation are to facilitate the movement of people and
goods and to provide access to land use activities located within the service area.
This chapter shows how advances in transportation technology have helped to
determine the size, shape and density of urban areas and associated traf
c con-
gestion patterns. It provides a brief historical review
—
from ancient times to the
present
of how transportation technology has shaped the size of urban areas over
time, and highlights the connection between transportation technology and land use.
Each advance in transportation technology (e.g., electric streetcars, subways,
automobiles) has produced higher travel speeds; and each time travel speed has
increased, the amount of land used for urban growth has increased and population
density has decreased. The resulting travel patterns followed the population and
employment gradients.
This transition in living conditions from high population density (where activ-
ities are located very close to one another) to low population density (where
activities are located far from each other) has changed how people travel to work,
shop, and pursuit of other endeavors
—
from a high dependence on walking and
transit in high density cities, to an almost exclusive reliance on cars in low-density
suburbs.
The underlying theme is that traf
—
c congestion is a product of vibrant urban
areas and that people with the means to do so have tried to escape congestion when
technological advances provided the opportunity to do so.
It took the transportation advances of the Industrial Revolution (electric street-
cars and subways) to enable people to act on their desire to escape the congested
industrial city. The automobile accelerated and sustained this desire especially since
the end of WWII.
