Highway Expansion
Basics
The Tragic History of Highways Demolishing Cities — It’s Not Over Yet
This video from Vox provides an excellent overview of how the Interstate Highway System wiped out whole city neighborhoods in the post-war era.
May 23, 2016
The Problem With “Infrastructure Week”
You may have noticed that it's "Infrastructure Week" in America -- a time where engineering and construction industry groups beat the drum for more money, using big numbers and images of collapsing bridges.
May 20, 2016
Highway Propaganda Vids Sell City Residents on the Wonders of Wider Roads
It's not enough for highway builders to carve out land at great public expense so they can jam more cars into cities. Now they want you to believe their projects are great for the neighborhoods that bear the brunt of the added traffic and pollution.
May 3, 2016
Will Cleveland Finally Get Serious About Confronting Sprawl?
The Cleveland region has been struggling with sprawl for a long time.
April 22, 2016
How San Diego Planners Spun the Press to Sell Highway Expansions
How far will transportation agencies go to spin public perception of their highway expansion plans? San Diego's KPBS has produced a brilliant case study in this video and the accompanying report -- a deep dive into the media operation mounted by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to defend its slate of highway expansion projects.
April 11, 2016
Maine DOT Bullies Local Planners Into Voting for Highway Expansion
Here's a story about how DOTs can ram through road projects that locals don't even want.
April 7, 2016
Anthony Foxx Wants to Repair the Damage Done By Urban Highways
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is offering a surprisingly honest appraisal of America's history of road construction this week, with a high-profile speaking tour that focuses on the damage that highways caused in black urban neighborhoods.
March 30, 2016
Denver Residents Sue to Stop John Hickenlooper’s Highway Boondoggle
North Denver neighborhood organizations and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in federal court today to stop Colorado DOT's I-70 boondoggle, which will increase traffic and create more air pollution for generations to come if it's built.
March 16, 2016
The Complete Case Against Highway Widening in Detroit
Michigan DOT wants to spend $1 billion rebuilding and widening I-75 to Detroit's sprawling northern suburbs, at the expense of the city and close-in suburbs. Royal Oak, a walkable suburb that borders the city, is not having it.
March 1, 2016
Sober Non-Partisan Analysis: America Wastes a Ton of Money on Highways
A good deal of the $46 billion the federal government pours into highway spending each year is going to waste, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report [PDF].
February 23, 2016