Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In

As summer heat rages across America, some neighborhoods are substantially hotter than others — thanks to the legacies of racist transportation policies that still affect our cities.

In a new video, Grist explores how decades of racist (and fully legal) policies, such as discriminatory mortgage lending, resulted in rampant disinvestment in non-white communities — which especially hurt mostly Black, downtown neighborhoods, which became prime targets for clearance so that planners could build the federal highway system.

But the government didn't just destroy non-white neighborhoods to clear the way for cars — they also failed to provide good public investments that residents wanted, such as pedestrian-friendly street trees and parks, to help offset the heat absorbed by all the new asphalt.

So Black neighborhoods across America consistently became some of the worst "urban heat islands" in their respective cities — disparities that contribute to devastating resident health outcomes, and that have persisted to this day, long after racist practices, such as redlining, were formally made illegal. (Although, it must be noted, systemic housing discrimination that resembles redlining still exists.)

"When we studied 108 cities across the country, we found a systematic pattern that the redlined communities were, today, on average about seven degrees hotter than their non-redlined counterparts," said Dr. Vivek Shandas, the author of a 2020 study on the historical roots of disparities in urban-heat-island effects.

To learn more about how car infrastructure is creating intolerable heat in vulnerable communities, watch the video below.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Tuesday’s Headlines Pay High Prices for Highway Repairs

If the U.S. didn't spend so much money on repaving roads, there might be more left over for other things, like transit.

October 28, 2025

Op-Ed: The Norfolk Southern–Union Pacific Merger Is Wrong for Rail

This advocacy organization argues it's time to reject Wall Street's massive power grab and re-nationalize America's rails — before it's too late.

October 28, 2025

Crunching Numbers to Curb Crashes: Using Federal Data to Make Our Roads Safer

Upholding federal data transparency is key to understanding and reversing the alarming level of crashes, fatalities, and strained infrastructure. Here's where we have more work to do.

October 28, 2025

Ugly Truth: Federal ICE Raid Push Aside Local Cops, Safety and Free Speech

President Trump's heavily armed and masked immigration troops are turning American cities into battlegrounds — and eliminating accountability and free speech in the public realm.

October 27, 2025

Monday’s Headlines Dust Off Duffy

The transportation secretary has been busy beefing with California, SEPTA and Elon Musk.

October 27, 2025

This Bill Would Help America Build More Housing Near Transit

A bipartisan group is pushing a policy to incentivize transit-oriented development across the country.

October 27, 2025
See all posts