Impact of Mobility Induced by Urban Sprawl: Case Study of the Querétaro Metropolitan Area

Abstract

With different origins and perspectives, urban sprawl has been recognized as a threat to the quality of life in both developed and emerging countries. However, although in developed countries, the effects of such sprawl have been assessed in terms of extra fuel consumption and traffic congestion, in emerging economies, such effects have not been quantified and analyzed in detail. It was the purpose of this research to estimate the effects of urban sprawl on the transportation costs and fuel consumption in a rapidly growing metropolitan area in Mexico. This was performed through a strategy consisting of applying known analytical methodologies to data that were obtained by direct home surveys. Although the results reveal that such an urban sprawling process represents increases in transportation costs and fuel consumption on the order of 65 and 20%, respectively, it was found that other externalities should be considered in future studies, particularly with respect to the extra costs associated with the transportation of consumption goods in the sprawled areas. Conversely, the results correlate well with data from other emerging economies, but identify specific needs concerning the public transport infrastructure, particularly with regard to optimizing the running frequency of public transportation systems and the consideration of polycentric structures to minimize externalities.