- Section of I-5 Bridge North of Seattle Collapses Into Skagit River (LAT)
- Lipinski (D) and Grimm (R) Form Public Transit Caucus in the House (Hill)
- NY and NJ Transit Get $3.7B More for Sandy Damage, Future Storms (AP)
- In NH, House and Senate Bicker Over Gas Tax (Concord Monitor)
- “Reports on the Death of Suburbia Have Been Exaggerated” (Bloomberg)
- Downtown Vegas Gets Bike-Friendlier (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
- On-Again/Off-Again Boston to Cape Cod Rail Goes On Again (Boston Globe)
- Clean Technica Makes Argument For Off-Road Bike Paths
Looks like the suburban lifestyle bravely soldiers on. Is this the end for the “back to the cities” theorists and social planners?
I wouldn’t get too excited. The suburbs that are growing are mostly getting an influx of retired baby boomers. This is the generation which grew the suburbs in the first place. It’s no surprise many would choose to retire there. I highly doubt later generations, like me, who have lived their entire lives in cities will suddenly decide to retire in suburbia. particularly when they’re nearing an age when they may not be able to drive. And there’s still the long term problems of higher per capita cost of infrastructure in sprawling areas. There will of course be some suburbs which survive long term, but I suspect these will be mostly pre-WWII suburbs built within a few miles or so of commuter rail stations. The residents of these areas will easily be able to bike those few miles to run errands, or take the train into the city for work or pleasure. On the other hand, car-oriented suburbs aren’t sustainable in the long run for many reasons.