Impact of a New Bypass Route on the Local Economy and Quality of Life;Interim rept

摘要

The objectives of this research study were to assess the potential of a new bypass route to influence the overall growth rate of a local economy, the allocation of economic activity within the community, and overall community quality of life. To address these questions, the authors conducted a review of the literature, a statistical study of Kentucky counties that received a new bypass and similar counties within the state, and a case study of 8 bypass counties. The finding were that a new bypass was not found to have a significant impact on employment and population growth in a community, although it could lead to a modest reduction in retail sales growth. A bypass was found to increase vacancy rates in the downtown area and to lead to a loss of retail-oriented businesses downtown area and to lead to a loss of retail-oriented businesses downtown and a concentration of retail-oriented businesses on the bypass. This process, however, was for the most part not driven by downtown businesses moving to the bypass, but rather by the location of new businesses along the bypass. Finally, while there were some concerns, surveyed residents of communities that received a bypass indicated that they felt that the bypass did not hurt business outside of the downtown area and that the bypass made contributions to the local quality of life, such are through reduced traffic congestion.