According to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, congestion is as much a function of demand as of capacity. Dispersed suburban auto-dependent development creates additional highway demand on a much greater scale than does development in urbanized areas. Suburbs happened because people have greater wealth. We need to accept that and accommodate it. Greater wealth is only one of the reasons for suburbs.
Impact fees are regressive and inequitable.
If local governments in Pennsylvania had more coordination of infrastructure expenditures among state and local agencies and a predictable framework for investments, the need for impact fees would be reduced. Regional control is bad because it adds bureaucracy, provides more opportunity for corruption, and takes away local control. With over 5,000 government bodies and agencies making pieces of land use decisions, Pennsylvania has the most fragmented land use governance system in the nation. At the 53 land use forums held by Governor Ridge's Center for Local Government Services last summer, the 4,000 attendees placed greater local government cooperation to deal with fragmentation of decision-making as the highest priority. There is even little choice for wealthy buyers, since they are limited to sites out on the urban fringe.