Enterprising land developers then began to buy cheaper land even farther from the city and the same process began again. Suburban sprawl has negative effects on suburbs, cities, the economy and the environment. Furthermore, time spent commuting to work, driving children to activities, and caring for large properties often robs many suburbanites of leisure time. Cities Suburban sprawl has also had negative effects on city dwellers. Schools and city services suffer.
Buildings remain vacant and decay.
The flight of businesses to the suburbs take their jobs out of reach of the poor who often cannot afford a car needed to commute to the new location. The low density housing in the suburbs drains the infrastructure. Roads and utilities must be stretched much further to serve the same number of people than they do in the city. In the St. Louis area, the state is considering spending millions of dollars expanding Highway 40 for the exploding far western suburban population. Even worse, the state is planning to build a new bridge over the Missouri River.