Highway Expansion
Basics
Opinion: To Halt Wasteful Highways, America Needs a ‘Road Review’
n February, the government of Wales announced that it was scrapping all major road-building projects. The move came after a year-long “roads review” in which a government-appointed panel systematically reviewed the nation’s road-building program in light of its climate and environmental goals. To an American steeped in our highway-happy, boondoggle-building transportation policy system, the summary of the roads review reads like something out of a particularly good fantasy novel. But could it happen here, too, if the people lead the way?
May 24, 2023
A Teen Activist’s Message to Transportation Leaders That Everyone Needs To Hear
Teenage climate organizers in Oregon are standing up against a freeway expansion that will threaten their generation's very future — and sending a message to adult policymakers that the connection between car dependency and the climate crisis can no longer be ignored.
May 3, 2023
These 10 Urban Freeways Deserve To Be Demolished — But Will They?
America is at a watershed moment in the fight to heal the harms of urban freeways that tore apart predominantly BIPOC and low-income communities, a new report argues — but what that healing will look like, exactly, is still an open question.
April 19, 2023
You love to see it: Rte. 53 extension proposal gets turned into a greenway project instead
While it may be a few years until the greenway project gets off the ground, it's certainly a fantastic outcome that instead of being filled by cars, trucks, and pollution, the corridor will be used by pedestrians, bike riders, and wildlife.
March 16, 2023
‘Secretary Pete Can’t Save You’: FHWA OKs Houston Highway Expansion After Pause
"The lesson here is, Secretary Pete is not going to come in and save the day," said one highway opponent. "And he probably isn’t capable of saving the day."
March 15, 2023
Are Texas Transportation Commissioners’ Investments in Auto and Oil Fueling Highway Addiction?
“They’d discuss budgets, billions and billions of dollars — and it’s obvious who their interests are,” she says. “I was there every month and never once did I hear them say, ‘People who are living in their grandma’s home, that’s their inheritance — [we want to make sure they] are being paid equally as all the big businesses downtown.’”
March 10, 2023
Rest In Pieces, ‘Fix-it-First’: Biden Caves to GOP’s Highway Expansion Obsession
The Biden administration has caved to GOP pressure and will no longer push states to repair existing highways before building new ones, a move that angered livable cities advocates.
March 7, 2023
TxDOT Chooses Highways Over Housing
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is pushing forward with an $85 billion, decade-long plan to expand the state’s highway system, despite widespread opposition and even a federal lawsuit — even if that means tearing down housing.
February 16, 2023
Opinion: It’s Time to Embrace ‘Deinfluencing’ Car Culture — and Gen Z is Leading
“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of honesty anymore [on social media], it seems like a lot of things are run through money,” one social media user said.
February 13, 2023
Congress’s Messy ‘Fix-It-First’ Fight Heats Up
A long-fought effort to get states to spend more of their federal infrastructure dollars on fixing highways rather than building new ones is in peril in the newly GOP-lead head house — and if it succeeds, it could force President Biden to take an unprecedented stand in favor of progressive road priorities.
January 23, 2023
