“There’s nothing left to tax”: the effects of automobility on the downtowns of America’s mid-size cities 1913–2013

ABSTRACT

This article uses digitized Sanborn fire insurance maps and property tax data to assess the combined effects of highway construction and the increase in parking in downtown Bridgeport, CT. We find that between 1913 and 2013, Bridgeport lost nearly 1.9 million square feet of taxed effective square feet to interstate construction and devoted another roughly 2.2 million square feet to surface parking. Using 2013 tax rates, we find that property tax revenue shrank to just over a quarter of 1913 levels, from a projected $19 million (in 2013 dollars) in 1913 to $5 million in 2013. Land use also became less diverse and more concentrated, dominated by large commercial and tax-exempt parcels. The concentration and lower tax revenue reduced the resilience of downtown. This paper provides a new method to estimate the effects of highway construction and develop predictions for the effects of highway removal. We estimate that $3 million in tax revenue could be restored by highway removal, and a further $2 million by building housing on surface parking lots, doubling the current tax base. Increasing residential uses downtown would be particularly useful in restoring the diversity of uses, supporting neighborhood retail, and providing citizen advocates for downtown.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban renewal
• fiscal health
• highway construction
• highway removal
• historical GIS

Acknowledgements

This paper was developed from Kristin Floberg’s master’ss’ thesis. Sean Doolittle’s undergraduate honors thesis added the 1950 map. Additional archival research assistance was provided by Carina Scher. The authors are also grateful for the generous reviewers whose comments greatly improved this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is available from authors upon request.

Notes

1 The Census Bureau has a separate metropolitan area classification for New England, the New England City and Town Area. While the Census Bureau normally assembles metropolitan areas from counties, the NECTAs are based on town boundaries, which is possible because all land in New England is contained within a town as well as a county. The NECTA better approximates the contiguous urbanized area, the commuter flows, and the political relationships as opposed to the metropolitan area which contains the entirety of Fairfield County.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies at the University of Connecticut.