By 1995 Puget Sound people annually spent 78 million hours stopped in traffic on freeways and arterials. That amounts to 36 hours stuck in congestion for each driver. Translating those hours into years, Puget Sounders sacrificed 8,904 human-years to traffic in 1995. Just 10 years from now the annual human-year toll mounts to 17,123. Only 14 percent will be covered by developer fees and other non-local taxpayer sources.
Schools are the most expensive public facility required by residential development.
Extending the road system is typically the second largest fiscal cost of sprawl. Snohomish County recently examined whether to retain the current Lake Stevens Urban Growth Area or adopt a smaller, more-compact one. Public expenditures on roads are not keeping pace with growing traffic. We know it's more expensive to provide services to sprawling development. The conservative PSRC estimate was based on a cost of one cent per noncommercial vehicle mile, two cents per commercial mile.