The state is considering proposals for toll roads and congestion pricing. Such measures would dramatically increase the cost of commuting. Meanwhile, bus fares have risen and service been reduced. Central-city residents without cars can't get to jobs in distant suburbs, and suburban employers often have trouble attracting enough workers. Some companies opt to expand outside the region, taking their jobs and tax base with them.
Polluted land deters many employers from locating in central cities and older suburbs.
In a 1993 study, University of Minnesota researcher Barbara Lukerman found that environmental liability had the greatest impact on location decisions made by Twin Cities companies. The two central cities and first-ring suburbs were at a significant disadvantage. They had almost two contaminated sites per square mile, compared to about one per square mile in developed suburbs, one in every 2.5 square miles in developing suburbs and one in every 10 square miles in rural areas. Of more than 44,000 acres developed in the Twin Cities for commercial and industrial use in the 1980s, only 1,400 acres were in fully developed suburbs and only 100 acres were in Minneapolis and St. Paul, she found. During the 1980s, the number of households grew 52 percent in Sherburne County and 25 percent in Wright County.