The Attraction of Interstate Radial Freeway Corridors for New Office Sites

This paper discuses the impact of Interstate radial freeway corridors upon the location of new office developments in the 1970-76 period in seven United States cities. Data indicated that in each of the seven cities, greater growth occurred outside of the downtown Core than in it. Growth of the office sites compared to previous development ranged from 12% to 110% in the Cores with an average of 24%, compared to 106% to 307% for non-Core areas with an average of 207%. Growth expressed in terms of gross square feet had a similar pattern. Of the 1970-76 office development, the greatest proportion of new sites occurred in Interstate radial corridors (average of 34%); when analyzing gross square feet of new office development, the Interstate Radial freeways\u27 growth exceeded all non-Core transportation corridors, but not the Core itself. An analysis of factors theoretically associated with these patterns, suggests that accessibility to residences of white collar workers--especially those of office location decision-makers--was most important. Other factors examined (including accessibility to the Core, metropolitan tax differentials, cost of land, and availability of land) were found to be unrelated or much less significant