Traffic Calming and Neighborhood Livability: Evidence from Housing Prices in Portland

39 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2017

Date Written: March 28, 2017

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of traffic calming on the livability of urban residential streets. Using geo-referenced data on the installation of 1,187 calming devices in Portland, Oregon, I test whether the interventions locally affect housing prices during succeeding years. I provide reduced-form evidence that city dwellers pay significant premiums to limit their exposure to motor vehicles, but obtain mixed results regarding the overall price impacts of calming devices. My estimates suggest that only the most effective traffic calming measures have a detectable impact on housing prices. The implied traffic flow elasticity is -0.07: projects decreasing traffic by 16% raise home values on treated streets by 1%.

Keywords: traffic externalities; street livability; urban policy; housing market; hedonic approach.

JEL Classification: O18

Suggested Citation

Polloni, Stefano, Traffic Calming and Neighborhood Livability: Evidence from Housing Prices in Portland (March 28, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2952964 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2952964

Stefano Polloni (Contact Author)

Brown University ( email )

Box 1860
Providence, RI 02912
United States

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