Highway Removal
Basics
Tear Down These 10 Freeways! (And Then Tear Down Some More)
Freeway teardowns are no longer as rare as an earthquake during the World Series.
February 13, 2014
Dallas Official: Without a Highway Teardown, Park Gets “Free Shade”
Getting officials on board with a highway teardown in Dallas is no easy task. Just ask Patrick Kennedy, a Dallas planner who has led the charge to remove IH-345, an elevated stump of a highway near central Dallas.
February 4, 2014
Akron Sets Out to Dismantle a Giant Road
Some places just talk about prioritizing transit and walking over highway construction. But Akron, Ohio, is putting its money where its mouth is.
February 3, 2014
A Highway Teardown Appears Likely, In an Unlikely Place
As the nation prepares for the expansion of the Panama Canal and all port cities go crazy deepening and widening everything in sight, the second biggest biggest port in the country is doing something unexpected: planning a highway teardown.
November 22, 2013
Will the Feds Support Rochester’s Downtown Highway Teardown?
It's been called a "noose around the neck of downtown." The Inner Loop in Rochester, New York -- a regrettable 1960s-era sunken highway -- completely encircles the city's downtown, forming a wall between residential neighborhoods and the central business district.
August 29, 2013
Austin’s Ambitious Plan to “Cut and Cap” a Downtown Highway
Since it was built about 50 years ago, Interstate 35 has been an enormous physical and psychological barrier through downtown Austin. Partly elevated, partly sunk, it's the dividing line between what locals refer to as "east Austin" and plain old Austin. It's also a major NAFTA trade corridor that carries 250,000 vehicles a day, and is considered one of the most congested freeways in the country.
August 1, 2013
Birmingham to Widen Downtown Highway While Other Cities Tear ‘Em Down
Downtown freeways are unmitigated disasters for cities. They ruin the development potential of central city neighborhoods and create dead zones that divide downtown areas. That's why Milwaukee, San Francisco, New Orleans, Niagara Falls, Oklahoma City, New Haven and Syracuse have either torn them down or are seriously considering it.
July 18, 2013
Minneapolis-St. Paul: Ripe for a Highway Teardown?
When I was a college student in the Twin Cities, I moved between Minneapolis and St. Paul on the 21 bus or the 16 bus or by bike, traversing vibrant corridors like Lake Street and Washington Avenue. I rode past art cinemas and pancake houses and Mexican supermarkets and puppet theaters. Or I didn't ride past -- I stopped and sampled.
July 12, 2013
The Grassroots Campaign for a Highway Teardown in Dallas
Three years ago, Dallas-based planning consultant Patrick Kennedy and his friend, developer Brandon Hancock, started wondering why you couldn't do a highway teardown in the Big D. They picked a highway: IH345, an elevated connector route between downtown and the Deep Ellum neighborhood. Then they thought, "Why not? Let's do a study." Between the two of them, they had the necessary expertise.
July 3, 2013
St. Louis Punts on Highway Teardown, for Now
For three years, grassroots advocates in St. Louis have been pressing for the removal of elevated portions of I-70 through downtown. This group of urbanists and architects, with little to no financial support, came together to make the case for highway removal.
June 27, 2013