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Transportation

It's Time for Economic Developers to Focus on Transportation

Regions with an efficient transportation network stand a better chance of boosting productivity through shorter commutes.  

Traffic flows east on the Interstate 10 freeway in Los Angeles on September 18, 2019. - 

Traffic flows east on the Interstate 10 freeway in Los Angeles on September 18, 2019. - 

Photographer: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP
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The local economic development field has had a rough go of it lately.

Charged with recruiting new businesses and supporting existing ones, economic development practitioners could only do so much in the face of a crippling pandemic. But their tactics have been under increasing scrutiny for years, especially in the wake of high-profile debacles like the Foxconn deal to bring a $10 billion tech manufacturer to Wisconsin and the multi-city bidding war over Amazon’s “HQ2” hub, which ended with the company pulling out of New York City after furious local opposition.