Book Description

This report examined the effects of freeway development on land use and property values. A case study was prepared for the Superstition Freeway (US60) corridor in Mesa and Gilbert, Arizona. Among the findings were the following observations: New freeways provide substantial benefits to users in the form of travel time savings and reductions in costs associated with operating motor vehicles. Access benefits are transferred from highway users to non-users through changes in property values. Freeway construction may have an adverse impact on some properties, but in the aggregate, property values tend to increase with freeway development. Not all property values are affected by freeways in the same way. Proximity to the freeway was observed to have a negative effect on the value of detached single-family homes in the US60 corridor, but to have a positive effect on multifamily residential developments (e.g., condominiums) and most commercial properties. The most important factor in determining negative impact on property values appears to be the level of traffic on any major roads in the proximate area, which implies that regional traffic growth is more significant than the presence of a freeway per se. Given the beneficial effects of freeway development on the value of certain types of properties, local governments may benefit from appropriate planning and zoning decisions in the vicinity of a freeway corridor.