Even in the early years of America's highway construction craze, a few
people recognized the folly of placing major roads through the hearts of
cities. In her 1970 book Superhighways - Superhoax, Helen
Leavitt famously wrote that Dwight Eisenhower, the president who signed
the Interstate Highway Act into law, didn't realize these roads would
run through downtown districts until he saw construction of Interstate
95 in Washington, D.C. Officials looked into relocating the system's
urban highways, but by then it was too late.
Apocryphal or not, the story offers little solace to current city
residents. In cities across the country, highway-placement decisions of
yesterday continue to impact life today. The ghosts of the interstate
era still linger in
New Haven's Route 34 Connector, for instance, which has bifurcated the
downtown district for more than half a century. Just a few days ago,
Matt Yglesias examined the difference between Paris, a city with no downtown highway obstructions, and Minneapolis, one with several.
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One Rincon Hill above Bay Bridge approach, San Francisco, photo by /\/\ichael Patric|{ |
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Look like there is someone who had an idea of fixing our urban system highways. That's why it's called a death row.
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