This article reports on the effects of superhighways in established residential areas in 23 SMSAs in nine states. Using information from the United States Census for 1960 and 1970 and from state highway departments, comparisons are made between impacted and nonimpacted census tracts on 34 housing and population variables. Multiple regression is the analysis tool, permitting statistical control of tract location and housing density. Results indicate (1) that meaningful differences emerge between impacted and nonim pacted tracts, (2) that despite these differences, the highway impact variable accounts for little of the variance in the dependent variable, and (3) that substantive differences between impacted and nonimpacted tracts are small, even when statistically significant. This last finding implies that highways are of minor importance in explaining changes in census characteristics compared to general demographic trends and deliberate policies in metropolitan areas.
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