•  
  •  
 

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

light rail stops, transit, Sacramento metropolitan region

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Geography

Abstract

The traditional downtown and suburban form of a metropolis is becoming an obsolete model to describe the Sacramento region. The region has five commercial centers among the communities (described as “edge cities”) surrounding the traditional downtown of the City of Sacramento (Garreau 1991). Developers of the region have been building and are building large (over 100,000 square feet) units to house multiple uses from medical offices to shopping malls. These buildings are a part of the urban form of Sacramento and are primary to the landscape of the region. The road system is central to landuse practice of the region, with most commercial development in the edge cities bordering major roadways. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) has become a recent trend throughout the United States. Increase in traffic congestion and pollution of cities has made the car a less viable option of transportation. Sacramento has made effort over the past several years to mitigate this through public transit infrastructure. In 1987 the region built its first light rail system, which linked the close-by northeast and east with downtown. In 1998 an extension was built which connected the downtown with Rancho Cordova, further to the east. In 2003 a light rail was built to connect with the south region and a few years later the northern suburbs were connected. This paper will consider how the Sacramento light rail system is affecting the location choice of developers building large units (structures over 100,000 square feet) in the Sacramento metropolis. Examining this is important because it will provide an example of how and if transit lines affect land-use patterns in a midsized city with a traditionally automobile-based form. This information can guide future transportation and land-use planning in order to better create regions that serve a variety of people and uses.

Download

Included in

Geography Commons

Share

COinS