Reducing Work Commutes Not Easy In Some Cities

I live in the Atlanta metro area, and the average commute is one of, maybe the longest, in the nation.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925165505.htm

ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2008) — Shorter work commutes are one way to reduce gasoline consumption, but a new study finds that not all cities are equal in how easy it would be to achieve that goal.

Research suggests that Atlanta and Minneapolis may be the U.S. metropolitan areas that would find it most difficult to reduce the miles that workers commute each day.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas and Miami may be the metro areas where it would be easiest to reduce commuting miles.

The research aimed to see how difficult it would be to reduce the average commuting trip lengths by a realistic amount -- just 3 percent -- in 26 metro areas, said Morton O’Kelly, co-author of the study and professor of geography at Ohio State University.
...
For cities like Atlanta and Phoenix, with widely separated residential and employment zones, the specific nature of development in those metro areas makes it difficult to reduce commuting miles, O’Kelly said.