USA Today's front page article on long commutes could be good news for smaller towns and cities that are focused on enhancing quality of life. Commutes in big cities are now beginning at 5 AM so that commuters can reduce the amount of time spent on the road.
This is not a new phenomenon. Even in the early and mid eighties, commuting in the New York and New Jersey area encouraged this kind of strategy. If I left for work at 6:30 AM, I could be at work by 7 AM. If I left at 7, the commute took an hour. If I left at 7:30, I would be lucky to get to work by nine. The traffic was one of the reasons I left AT&T and moved to Blacksburg.
More communities are beginning to understand the quality of life issues and are beginning to re-orient their economic development strategies to adjust. But other regions, believing that unrestricted growth is a good thing because it increases the tax base, are allowing the hands-off approach to development to turn formerly pristine rural roads into traffic-clogged mini-versions of urban roadways. Low density zoning in rural areas (also known as sprawl) tends to put more cars on narrow country roads never designed for the higher traffic flows created by rural subdivisions, and the traffic can get bad quickly.
Work at home jobs have the potential to get cars off the road, but that means communities have to have high quality, affordable broadband in neighborhoods and rural areas. Work at home jobs are turning suburbs and rural communities into business districts, but to leverage that economic growth takes thoughtful planning.