Well, to me, it would seem that since the city is fairly young that is should have better urban planning! But, really, what I say is good urban planning and what they presumed was better urban planning back in the 70s and 80s are probably much different things. And there are clogs in plenty of places during rush hour; and you have to remember, we're a city of only 291,826 municipal residents in 2010 (374,553 residents within the metro area - wiki numbers), so we're like pseudo- big city. I don't know the last time you drove to eagle river during rush hour, but I can tell you - it sucks. However, I will agree, the city was designed around cheap energy and the automobile; I couldn't imagine living in this city without a car.

Really, my point is that the city should put more emphasis on public transportation. Then again, with the rich oil baron populace and sprawling infrastructure, this would probably be a futile task to try and implement. I was simply impressed by Portland's infrastructure, in that I got off an airplane, took the metro from the airport to the city center (which 15 miles or so apart, I'd figure) with an all-day pass that was less than $5, met with some friends and saw a movie, then got back on and was back at the airport with time to spare for my flight. In Anchorage, this would have been much more expensive and complicated.