Middle States Geographer, 2004. 37: J 08- J J.5 MEASURING ACCESSIBILITY AS A SP AnAL INDICA TOR OF SPRAWL

ABSTRA CT: Suburban sprawl has often been identified as low-density and dispersed development hat requires greater automobile vehicle miles to be traveled for daily activities thereby resulting in problematic environmental and social impacts. This paper attempts to empirically test one of the spatial characteristics of sprawl by measuring the actual road distance of residential housing units to common every day destinations or "community nodes " in Hunterdon County. NJ. A centroid point is identified for all residential housing units county-wide and the road distance measured to each of the nearest community nodes utilizing a gridded road network approach within a GIS environment 11ae community nodes included such public activity centers as schools. emergency services. grocery stores. public transit stops. recreational parks. post offices and libraries. The research demonstrates that older compact communities within the county are significantly more accessible to community nodes than much of the more recent housing development providing substantive evidence of the link between sprawl and accessibility. The methodology demonstrates a means of objectively quantifying and comparing new urban development patterns for characteristics of sprawl versus smart growth. INTRODucnON The term urban sprawl has a decades-long history in the academic discourse and yet there i