To compensate for lost capacity, government agencies add lanes, often consuming adjacent property. When capacity deteriorates excessively, or when no room exists for additional lanes, parallel routes must be constructed, further dissecting community neighborhoods, and at even greater cost. Ironically, lax access policy also harms the very interests that press for it to begin with. As an arterial highway loses its capacity, traffic volume declines, causing loss of business along the route. Faced with declining volume, businesses relocate along another route, where the cycle begins anew.
Several barriers stand in the way of a sound and coherent highway access policy.
Those who understand the value of consistent policy lack ways to quantify and effectively communicate the costs and benefits to others. Finally, necessary partnerships, not only between state and local agencies, but also with business and political interests, may not be sufficiently cultivated. Research was needed to develop a policy, procedures and design guidelines for controlling highway access in rural states of the upper great plains and the mountain west, and to evaluate and document the value of sound and coherent access policy. Using the recommended measures, evaluate the potential value of consistent application of sound access policy at corridors and locations in South Dakota where access is proliferating, placing capacity and safety at immediate or imminent risk. Through interviews with state and local planning professionals and officials, develop background and identify key issues related to control of highway access in South Dakota.