U.S. at 300 million: 'Heaven on earth' to 'uncharted territory'

(CNN) -- Forty years ago, Elizabeth Heydanek lived in her "heaven on earth" -- Schaumburg, Illinois.

She chased lightning bugs in her back yard, filled buckets on the porch with tadpoles from a nearby creek, played tag with friends.

Elizabeth was 7 years old in 1967, one of 200 million Americans at the time. As she and her country grew -- the 300 millionth American will be born at 7:46 a.m. ET Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau says -- things changed in Schaumburg and the country.

Heydanek had moved to Illinois from New Jersey a year earlier in 1966, a trip made by train. If she and her family were moving now, they would be more likely to be moving to Florida, according to census figures. And they probably would be traveling by car -- there are 237 million vehicles on U.S. roads now compared with just under 100 million 40 years ago.

Intercity passenger train travel has dwindled -- just 0.2% of the amount of intercity travel done by car.

Heydanek said her little Illinois town began to change in 1972, just after the Woodfield Mall opened -- one she said was billed as one of the nation's largest at the time -- bringing in traffic and taking away some of the small-town charm.

Larger commercial properties have opened since, according to a study done at Eastern Connecticut State University, and their locations in Florida, California, Nevada and Virginia are indicative of where the U.S. population is growing and how the suburban sprawl Heydanek found in Illinois has taken over Sunbelt cities




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