Planner: Area Needs More Jobs and Homes Closer to Transit

WASHINGTON, D.C.- D.C. traffic is getting worse -- and it's time for transportation planners to put jobs and homes closer together, says Mike Knapp, chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' Transportation Planning Board.

The board's new mobility study shows that houses and businesses need to be built around transportation hubs so commuters are not driving hours at a time.

"You create fairly dense developments around transit," says Knapp.

Some homeowners are resistant to the proposed changes and worry about the impact of the building, about the community looking differently and about the effect of building on housing values.

Knapp says values are actually growing the most near transit-oriented communities. It will take some time for people to get used to that, he says.

"It's going to look differently than you're community does today," says Knapp.

The transportation planning board is spending some money on getting the new ideas out to the public so local leaders can talk about the benefits of this type of growth.

Erin Reilly contributed to this article.

(Copyright 2006 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)