THE RURBAN FRINGE

Highways and Byways

Posted on | January 26, 2009 | No Comments

Within our region, there are a few communities experiencing the impacts of highway bypass development.

Yet in many urban fringe and rurban areas, highway construction activities are important to communities both because of the investment they represent and the changes they trigger.  And while such activities often relieve traffic congestion, shorten travel times, and provide new business opportunities within the region, a new route can bring damaging change if it bypasses an older, existing highway.

The more dependent a community is on drive-through traffic, the more likely it is to feel negative impacts from a highway bypass. 

The strength of a community’s economy before the highway bypass is of vital importance to the impacts the community will experience.  The stronger and more diverse the economic base, the better it will fare after a bypass is constructed.

To weather the changes such development brings, active leadership and planning is a must. 

A strong and proactive political and business-minded council, in addition to increased signage on the new route highlighting the shops and services in the bypassed town, may lower the short-term economic impacts the community experiences.

Economic adjustment actions of the local government, such as providing utilities and other services to new businesses along interchanges, will also help to improve the community’s longer-term economic performance.

And don’t forget about the opportunities to develop destination-based tourist attractions within the downtown business core … with convenience-based business drawn elsewhere, the downtown can become a centre of specialized activity, capitalizing on what makes that community unique – making it a destination for visitors and residents alike.

While adaptation takes time, the negative impacts of highway bypass development on a community can be lessened with strategic economic and land use planning.

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Category: Infrastructure
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