Highway Boondoggles
Basics
Op Ed: It’s Time to Pause Highway Construction Nationwide and Try Something New
We don't have to swear off highway construction forever to make a dent in car dependency. A new report calls for a temporary moratorium on asphalt — and outlines how to get there.
July 28, 2025
Another Reason We Have a Housing Crisis? Highways!
In urban neighborhoods — especially Black ones — land once set aside for homes was decimated for car drivers.
September 18, 2024
Oregon Highway Expansion Facing Second Lawsuit for ‘Cumulative Impacts’
The Beaver State Department of Transportation doubly violated federal law, a new lawsuit charges.
August 16, 2024
‘A Petition, a Website, and a T-shirt’: Ann Arbor Advocates Share Tips for Fighting Highway Expansions
Ann Arbor advocates helped get a destructive and wasteful highway expansion thrown out — and they have some ideas on how you can, too.
June 10, 2024
How to Fight a Texas-Sized Freeway Battle
A new book explores how Texas advocates are fighting back against destructive highway expansions. But what happened to those projects since it was sent to the printer?
May 7, 2024
Boondoggle: Oregon Highway Widening Gets ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Cash
The US Department of Transportation just awarded $450 million to the $1.9-billion Rose Quarter 1-5 project, which opponents have long called one of America’s most-notorious highway boondoggles.
April 8, 2024
Freeway Fighters: ‘Stop the Highway-Expansion Madness,’ New Coalition Demands
"Endless highway expansions are pulling our country into an environmental, budgetary, and public health crisis," the letter states.
February 6, 2024
Freeway Math: How Governments Decide a Harmful Highway Is ‘Worth It’
A massive interstate highway project promises do deliver billions of dollars in public "benefits." But a local advocacy group says that it's all based on bad math.
December 14, 2023
Highway Boondoggles 2023: Habitat Devastation in the Hoosier State
Plans for a new 54-mile highway in southern Indiana threaten thousands of acres of forests, farmland and wildlife habitat. So why is Indiana forging ahead anyway?
November 30, 2023
Highway Boondoggles 2023: Is the BQE the Queen of All Boondoggles?
New York City is set to squander a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix a polluting and outdated highway.
November 29, 2023