Land uses generate vehicle, pedestrian, bicycle, and transit trips. In order to manage traffic along a highway, both land use and transportation strategies are necessary. To manage one without the other will result in congestion, deterioration of the highway corridor, and resident, business and landowner dissatisfaction. Not all highways influence land development in the same way. For example, interchanges attract industries and warehouses, whereas local streets pose problems for these uses due to weight limits, neighborhood conflicts, and limited maneuvering space.
Highway systems can be barriers or connectors between land uses.
For example, interstates bisect communities and limit their interconnection to a few underpasses, overpasses or exits. Alternatively, local street networks connect destinations within communities. Traffic congestion and delays affect the desirability of doing business along parts of a highway corridor. Improvements designed to ease congestion often attract more traffic requiring more improvements in the future. Increased highway capacity may result in the spread of development to peripheral areas, leaving vacant and abandoned areas behind.