Smart cities have been reclaiming
inner-city interstates for decades.
Inner City Freeways are Killing Our Communities
Dorothy Wiley sat for days in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans knowing her home and her church were underwater. She was left without a place to live after Hurricane Katrina. But somehow, Dorothy endured the horrors of the hurricane and found herself in a brand new home. By the grace of God and help from the community, she relocated to Allendale in Shreveport. The home was a result of the “Building on Higher Ground” project, a nonprofit partnership between The Fuller Center for Housing, Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal, and Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Louisiana, to build houses in Shreveport for evacuees left homeless by Katrina.
This gave Dorothy hope, but now she finds herself in limbo as she waits to see how the local officials will handle Allendale.
The I-49 connector project can’t be started for at least another 3 years, and construction typically lasts 15-20 years. That means NOW is the time to invest in the people of Allendale.
Today, inner city freeways are causing nothing but harm for communities all over America. They are destroying neighborhoods and their rich history without bringing any long-term benefits to the table. Instead, they are saddling taxpayers with the maintenance bill.
The Root of the Problem:
Why are inner-city freeways specifically targeting Black neighborhoods nationwide? It is apparent that systematic racism is inherent in the pattern of destroying these communities. According to an article by the Los Angeles Times, L.A. freeways have had a history of segregating and destroying Black neighborhoods. The article specifically mentions when the Santa Monica Freeway was moved so that it ran directly through an African American middle-class neighborhood of Sugar Hill and completely destroyed it. And you can find dozens of articles of cities all over America where this is the case.
Freeways are the underlying culprit to systemic issues impacting education, community, policing, and unhealthy living conditions. Interstates don’t improve cities but make them poorer. Through traffic belongs on the outskirts, and local traffic belongs in the city centers. So, what is the solution we need to address these systemic issues?
"Cities as diverse as Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Milwaukee, WI, and Seoul, South Korea, have successfully replaced urban highways with boulevards… saving billions of dollars in infrastructure costs, increasing real estate values on adjacent land, and restoring urban neighborhoods."
-CNU Highways to Boulevards
The Solution:
Smart cities are reclaiming their inner-city interstates leading them to increase community growth and renewal. A few examples include Klyde Warren Park and Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans. The citizens in Dallas reclaimed the former inner-city interstate and transformed it into Klyde Warren Park: a place for pedestrians and community events. The park has become a place of economic growth and community outreach. This year, NOLA locals have started a movement to save Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans. The area used to be a center for commerce and culture until a federal interstate cut it off from the rest of the city in the 1960s. Now, community members are calling attention to the area’s demise in hopes of reclaiming the street.
These are just a couple of examples of people coming together to help save areas destroyed by freeways. In all of these cases, the solution is an investment in pedestrian and biking infrastructure because it leads to population growth and health.
Now that the immediate fear of I-49 being built through Allendale is no longer there. We must regroup and catch the attention of our local politicians and community members so Allendale can become like these examples. If we can reclaim the neighborhood and boost the members of the community that are trying to make positive change, then maybe we can save this neighborhood and its rich history.
The threat for Allendale residents may not be here today or tomorrow, but it still looms in their future. We must invest in the people of Allendale because it will benefit everyone in Shreveport and give us hope for a better future.
Completed Freeway Removal Projects:
Via Wikipedia- Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle, Washington (Replaced by tunnel)
- Central Artery in Boston, Massachusetts (relocated underground)
- Central Freeway and Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco, California
- Cheonggye Elevated Highway in Seoul, South Korea
- Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, Ontario (stub east of downtown)
- Harbor Drive in Portland, Oregon
- Inner Loop in Rochester, New York (closed in December 2014)
- Interstate 30 in Fort Worth, Texas (relocated)
- Interstate 170 in Baltimore, Maryland (western stub removed for expansion of the West Baltimore station's parking lot and possible Red Line project)
- Interstate 195 in Providence, Rhode Island (relocated as part of the Iway project)
- Oklahoma City Crosstown Expressway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (relocated)
- Park East Freeway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Robert Moses State Parkway in Niagara Falls, New York
- Southeast Freeway in Washington, D.C. (easternmost portion)
- Voie Georges-Pompidou in Paris, France
- West Sacramento Freeway in Sacramento, California (except westernmost portion)
- West Side Elevated Highway in New York City, New York (except northernmost portion)
- Zhongxiao Elevated Highway in Taipei, Taiwan
Planned or Upcoming Freeway Removal Projects:
Via Wikipedia- Bonaventure Expressway in Montreal, Quebec (under construction)
- Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans, Louisiana[9]
- Cleveland Memorial Shoreway in Cleveland, Ohio
- Cogswell Interchange in Halifax Regional Municipality
- Downtown Connector in Atlanta, Georgia (proposed to be rerouted into tunnels beneath the city)[10]
- Innerbelt in Akron, Ohio
- Interstate 70 through downtown Denver, Colorado (proposed to be rerouted into tunnels beneath the city)
- Interstate 81 through downtown Syracuse, New York (proposed to reroute I-81 traffic around Syracuse via Interstate 481)
- Interstate 345 in Dallas, Texas[11]
- Interstate 35 in Duluth, Minnesota[12]
- Interstate 375 in Detroit, Michigan[13]
- Interstate 475 in Flint, Michigan downtown section only.[14]
- Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo, Japan[3]
- NY 895 (Sheridan Expressway) in New York City, New York (under construction)[15]
- Oak Street Connector in New Haven, Connecticut (under construction)
- Route 79 in Fall River, Massachusetts (under construction)
- U.S. 101 in Downtown Los Angeles, California (proposed to be rerouted into tunnels underneath a new park)
- Whitehurst Freeway in Washington, D.C.
