By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/18/2008
Traffic in the St. Louis area has plateaued this decade, ending years of fast growth that fueled demand for more and wider roads.
A recent analysis by East-West Gateway Council of Governments shows traffic growth in the eight-county region slowed to an average annual rate of less than 1 percent between 2000 and 2006.
That's down from 2.3 percent average growth in the 1990s, and 4.3 percent growth in the 1980s.
The reasons behind the phenomenon have to do with the area's demographics: The region's population is aging, households are getting smaller and the percentage of women in the work force has stabilized. The price of gasoline had little, if any, effect on traffic, the analysis shows.
The Social Explorer produces maps and reports of US Census Tract level data from 1940-2000. Using high quality maps and data, they make available the full contents of the tract data for the United States for the full period. Reports include aggregated totals and the system allows for slideshows demonstrating change over time. The data can also be exported as excel spreadsheets for easy reuse.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s piece on the Bicentennial explores the way experts and professionals in various fields feel culture has been moving. Manchester identifies the increasing targeting of films to certain demographics, a trend which did in fact continue over time. By A. Carl
article about changing new york metro area demographics, not shocking.
quotes Andrew Beveridge at CUNY queens, a demographer. he also runs the social explorer project
- which is an very well done census explorer.
http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx


