Growing pains: Sprawl congests roads, but upkeep funds lag

The population of Cedar Rapids' metro area probably will grow by 90,000 over the next 30 years, and 40,000 of those people will move into Marion, Robins, Hiawatha and northeast Cedar Rapids. Despite the recession, development continues to spiderweb its way across the fields north of 29th Avenue in Marion, along Alburnett Road and west of Interstate 380. The Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization projects these suburbs will reach County Home Road by 2040. This growth will bring more traffic, requiring new roads, bigger roads and more frequent repairs to roads. Transportation planners worry there simply won't be enough funding for all the projects. It's the debate raging quietly behind the two-car garages and spacious backyards in shiny new subdivisions: Suburban expansion costs money. Who's picking up the tab?

'Development's not paying for itself,' said Adam Lindenlaub, a transportation planner for the Corridor MPO and a longrange planning coordinator for the city of Cedar Rapids. 'Fiscally, cities cannot grow without limits.' The Greater Cedar Rapids Area Home Builders Association argues new homes are an economic engine, pointing to a report from the National Association of Home Builders that says building 690 single-family homes in Linn County brings $22 million in local income, $4.6 million in taxes and other revenue for local government and 454 jobs - each year.

City Manager Jim Prosser asked David Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University, to analyze the report.

Swenson responded with a skeptical letter. He said economists generally think of the housing market as a response to the local economy, not a driving force behind it, and he said he viewed the report's findings 'extremely cautiously due to the likelihood that the model was primarily designed to advance the interests of the sponsoring organization.' Whatever the case, developers are building new homes all over the northern frontier of the metro area, and the cost of roads and other infrastructure that will serve those communities could put local governments in a fiscal headlock.

Traffic will be worse

If you think traffic is bad today in metro Cedar Rapids, wait until 2040.

Unless local government undertakes road improvements across the metro area, major roads everywhere will be congested.

Most of First Avenue and Blairs Ferry, Collins and Boyson roads will be too busy, according to Corri­dor MPO formulas. Not only would this make commutes longer, it would grind away at arterial roads whose conditions already are falling behind.

Road deterioration accelerates over time. A new road loses 40 percent of its quality in 15 years.

In the next two years, though, it deteriorates another 40 percent. A dollar of maintenance in year 15 increases fivefold in just three years.

Developers build the neighborhood streets in subdivisions according to local standards and turn maintenance over to cities. Those gently curving concrete streets won't be the problem. Instead, collector roads like Alburnett Road, Council Street and C Avenue will need maintenance.

A financial crisis is looming for Iowa's roads system. The state has more miles of roads than all but 12 states in America, yet Iowa ranks 30th in population and 26th in land area.

The state Road Use Tax Fund gathers revenue from gas taxes, registration and title fees, and a vehicle sales tax. The money from the fund is divided among construction projects on major highways, secondary roads and city streets.

The fund generated $1.1 billion in 2008 but has lost purchasing power since 1997. Because of 'hyperinflation' in construction costs in the past two decades, the real purchasing power of the fund has decreased by $267 million, the Iowa Department of Transportation reports. The DOT projects a $27 billion shortfall over the next 30 years.

Demand is in 'burbs

Yet development rolls on, and cities in the Corridor continue to expand their systems of roads.

Marion's comprehensive plan for the next 30 years calls for annexation and expansion up to County Home Road. Hiawatha's 20-year plan calls for construction of 1,350 homes in subdivisions, all on the west side of Interstate 380.

Developers Drew Retz and Al Frey have as clear a view of this as anyone.

Retz is vice president of Jerry's Homes, a Des Moines-based company with a strong Cedar Rapids presence. Frey is president of First Construction Co. in Cedar Rapids.

The problem with stopping suburban development, both say, is that people want to live in the suburbs.

'We respond to the market,' Retz said.

People want new homes, they want to live in school districts they perceive as excellent and they want space.

Also, it's easier and often cheaper for developers to buy a cornfield and build homes there. Retz and Frey say they would build condominiums in downtown Cedar Rapids, if they thought they could make money doing it.

'Get your buddies and your checkbooks, and we'll build it for you,' Retz said.

One way to make a city more efficient - and to stem the tide of road expansion - is to redevelop urban areas that don't require new roads, new sewer systems or new connections to municipal water. City planners call this 'infill development,' and the city of Cedar Rapids has pushed for higher density housing since Prosser's arrival.

Infill makes a city more compact and walkable, and can make public transit more viable.

Recent examples, though, are infill cautionary tales for developers.

Build on a cornfield, and nobody complains. Try to build high-density housing in an existing neighborhood, and prepare to hear neighbors 'scream bloody murder,' Retz said.

The Tudor Rose development and the Sugar Creek development were bitterly opposed by neighbors who didn't want high-density housing nearby - though each project gained approval from the City Council.

Retz said these examples show that the city's political will for infill development is limited, a fact that drives developers away from such projects.

'It's great. It's what the focus groups are saying that we want,' Retz said of infill development. 'We want a green community, an urban community, a higher density community - as long as it's not in my backyard.'