Free Republic

its annual Urban Mobility Report, and the area's traffic ranks among the worst in the country, worse than New York City, Chicago and Miami. Billions of dollars have been spent over several decades on transit subsidies, consultants, studies, special high-occupancy vehicle commuter lanes, new technologies and other hoped-for panaceas, but the congestion, delays and road rage show no sign of abating. Our current road systems are like relics of the late, unlamented Soviet Union: socialist enterprises run by well-intentioned planners. Moscow citizens got relief from food lines by embracing capitalism. The market economy could similarly liberate road users from excessive...

Christopher B. Leinberger is a man on a mission - a real estate developer who is building to reclaim the past. When not spearheading an ambitious redevelopment of downtown Albuquerque, N.M., he crisscrosses the country, trying to sell builders, planners and the public on converting the nation's sprawling, car-addicted suburbs into more compact, walkable communities - like the neighborhood he grew up in outside Philadelphia. At stake, contends the silver-haired, Santa Fe, N.M.-based developer, is nothing less than our personal health, and that of the planet. "The way we're building our suburbs presents such difficult problems," Leinberger said yesterday, as...

The comprehensive growth plan drafted for the six-county Sacramento area says nearly seven of every 10 new local homes built through 2050 should be attached or use small lots -- more than twice the proportion the region has now. And with land prices soaring, homebuilders here are starting to see some merit to that approach. The plan was assembled by the Blueprint Project, and the goal of its "preferred scenario" is to shift the region toward higher-density home construction as a way to reduce sprawl, transportation congestion, smog and other perils of uncontrolled growth. The Blueprint Project is a joint...