Reconnecting What Freeways Severed: Addressing the Historical Toll on Communities Split by Highways
“I … recognize that at their worst, misguided policies and missed opportunities in transportation can reinforce racial and economic inequality, by dividing or isolating neighborhoods and undermining government’s basic role of empowering Americans to thrive.” - Pete Buttigieg to the Senate at his confirmation hearing January 21, 2021
A Brief History
The majority of Americans rely on cars. Estimates suggest that currently 90 percent of households own or have access to at least one. We love to go where we want, when we want, fast.
When President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the federal government provided 90 percent funding for the states to build an interstate highway system. This law provided the means to build freeways and connect cities separated by hundreds of miles. Engineers, urban planners and city leaders were primarily interested in how quickly they could design and lay down 41,000 miles of asphalt for the envisioned interstate highway system. These freeways benefitted business owners who could now move their goods swiftly to market, skilled laborers who landed high-paying jobs, and the wealthy who were able to move to quiet suburban neighborhoods and commute to the cities.
However, when these infrastructure decisions were made post-WWII, many Black and Brown communities witnessed their neighborhoods and livelihoods torn apart by the freeways in the name of progress for all. Those who voiced concern for the lives of the people impacted, including Daniel P. Moynahan and Eugene McCarthy, were unable to do more than slow down the rapidly expanding program.
For the past 70 years, little regard has been given to the people whose neighborhoods were bulldozed to make way for freeways. Whether in Tulsa, New Orleans, Detroit, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, New Rochelle, New York, and many other U.S. cities, urban planners disproportionally, and sometimes purposefully, routed freeways through the neighborhoods where people of color lived or used these freeways to create boundary lines between White and Black communities. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than one million people across the U.S. -- mostly renters -- had to find new places to live after the freeways displaced them and unlike owners, renters received little or no compensation for their displacement. “Communities lost churches, green space and whole swaths of homes. They also lost small businesses that provided jobs and kept money circulating locally -- crucial middle-class footholds in areas already struggling from racist zoning policies, disinvestment and white flight.”
Where We Are Now - Prioritizing “Shovel Worthy” Projects
Over the years, the federal government has not followed through with adequate funding to maintain original construction of freeways and bridges, so they have been patched and repaired piecemeal. Many structures are 70 years old and have exceeded their projected lifespan. Some fall short of new design requirements. State governments are struggling to keep freeways and bridges safe and drivable. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has for years graded the nation’s infrastructure, giving the overall system a D+. ASCE acknowledged in their latest 2021 report that some focused improvements have been made, raising the U.S. infrastructure grade up to C-.
Coalitions of business associations, environmentalists, labor organizations, tribes, civil rights activists, and urbanists, including the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), have modeled new highway design recommendations. They have created visions for restoring neighborhoods blighted by freeways while developing attractive and environmentally-friendly new urban spaces in their place.
Long-term resiliency has emerged as the common theme among these urban solution-seekers. They understand that revitalizing cities’ cores without gentrification requires dedication to diversity, density, and ecology. Researchers in organizations such as Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Bloomberg CityLab, want to reconnect communities, improve community health, and devise sustainable solutions that address social inequities.
President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law (also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) makes clear that federal investments should revitalize cities and prioritize historically disadvantaged communities. The White House and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have acknowledged the damage done to communities by the historic racist policies. At over a trillion dollars, the bipartisan infrastructure bill promotes President Biden’s objectives to “grow the economy, enhance our competitiveness, create good jobs, and make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just.”
Although the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is one of the largest transportation investments in our history, the available funds will not cover all favored local projects. Projects must be prioritized and as Secretary Buttigieg describes it, they must be “shovel worthy.”
To be shovel worthy, projects must prioritize a comprehensive vision of what is in the best interests of all users, including those voices from stakeholders and communities previously ignored. The envisioned list is long, incorporating objectives such as:
reconnecting freeway-separated neighborhoods,
improving public health with cleaner air,
capturing and scrubbing surface water runoff from highways,
building affordable housing close to urban workplaces,
improving local transit systems, and
testing and adopting innovative transportation technologies.
Innovative Ideas that Work
Advocates of this multi-functional and healthy-communities approach are gaining traction in many cities where highways have diminished the quality of life. Some cities with ample roadways and dedicated planners are evaluating alternatives to the high costs of maintaining freeways, while unearthing and addressing past inequities, and providing for neighborhood connectivity and improved pedestrian-oriented infrastructure.
For example, New Rochelle, New York, a historic city of 80,000 people just 15 miles north of Manhattan, is still addressing a remnant of 1950’s Highway Act that divided a Black neighborhood in the once called “The Harlem of Westchester (County)”. Race and Space stated “As was the case in many American cities, the construction plan for Interstate 95 tore through the African American neighborhoods of New Rochelle, leading to the displacement of families, many of whom had roots in the community for several generations, and the closure of many businesses within the Lincoln Avenue corridor.” Thanks to empowered community and elected representatives, New Rochelle recently secured $12 million in federal grants, funding from the State of New York’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, and other funding to equitably rebuild their cultural landscape. Their work and New Rochelle’s history were recently featured in Landslide 2021.
Another innovative idea gaining support from engineers and urban designers is the building of lids over sunken freeways. Many cities have successfully combined overdue highway repair projects with lid projects, adding green spaces and reconnecting once divided neighborhoods.
In Seattle, which has the greatest concentration of freeway lids and some of the earliest lid projects in the country, a broad group of advocates representing businesses, urbanists, park enthusiasts, and more has been building support for the Lid I-5 project. Lid I-5 co-chair John Feit says, “Dozens of communities across the nation, including in Seattle and King County, have demonstrated that freeway lids are a viable strategy to expand public land, reduce pollution, and enhance community connections.”
Seattle Freeway circa 1970 before Freeway Park. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives
Freeway Park shortly after it opened on July 4, 1976. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives
I-5 Lid Vision First Phase Photo credit: Courtesy of Lid I-5.org
Lid I-5 advocates have invited an impressive board of local notables who bring new voices and new energy to the decision-making table. Working with the City of Seattle, as well as the Washington State Convention Center leadership, Lid I-5 supporters secured $1.5 million to conduct a technical feasibility study published earlier this year. The authors of the feasibility study and the City of Seattle staff reached a number of preliminary, yet encouraging, conclusions:
The portion of Downtown adjacent to the Lid I-5 is one of the fastest-growing, densest parts of Seattle. Residents and businesses would benefit from increased green space and improved connections between Downtown and Capitol Hill/First Hill.
Lidding I-5 could address inequities caused by the construction of the freeway by creating a cleaner and quieter environment.
A lid would create a healthy and vibrant urban neighborhood across I-5, with more park and green space, affordable housing, and amenities such as a community center and connected, safe pedestrian/bicycle routes in the heart of the city.
More affordable housing is needed on or near the lid. A lid could create space for several thousand much-needed new housing units.
The lid could create several million square feet of commercial and hotel space and up to 10 acres of new park space.
The lid could support 5,000 to 13,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs over 10 years from construction alone, revitalizing the economy with up to $3.1 billion in annual economic activity.
The lid would satisfy many of Secretary Buttigieg’s priority requirements: restored neighborhoods, improved air and water quality by buffering vehicle exhaust, reduced noise and temperatures, and leveraging highway investments.
Lidding I-5 could be part of a larger effort to address needed long-term maintenance and seismic renovations of the freeway itself.
Next steps will require the City of Seattle, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and local partners to commit to collaborative analysis and regional planning to improve the I-5 corridor. This needs to happen regardless of any lid effort, considering the value of new urban amenities and neighborhood connections incorporated in that work.
Many other successful lid projects are happening around the country which provide varied and effective models for this work, including:
Klyde Warren Park, 5.2 acres which connects uptown and downtown Dallas, was built over the recessed Woodall Rodgers Freeway and has become the arts and culture hub in the city and hosts 1,300 free programs and events annually.
The Park over the Highway in St. Louis added a green connection and land bridge over Interstate 44 connecting St. Louis’ downtown to the iconic Gateway Arch.
The Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix was built over the Papago Freeway Tunnel (Interstate 10), creating 32 acres of green park including walking paths, playground and cultural facilities open to the public.
The Cap project over Pittsburgh’s I-579 (Crosstown Boulevard), officially named Frankie Pace Park, reconnects downtown to the Hill District, a primarily African American neighborhood, and contains three-acres of public space, including park benches, a garden and green space.
Many other proposals are undergoing design and environmental review. The Stitch in Atlanta will add 14 acres of green space spanning the I-75/I-85 over downtown Atlanta. Los Angeles’s Hollywood Central Park is incorporating neighborhood suggestions to cap one mile of Highway 101. If funded, the lid project will provide 44 acres of new parks and greenspace to a historically underfunded community. The Reconnect Rondo project in St. Paul aims to restore that city’s historic African American neighborhood and create new wealth-building and entrepreneurial opportunities.
As these cities have shown, freeways that divided neighborhoods can become multi-functional assets. Lidding sunken freeways and dedicating underutilized lanes for community-driven green projects are proven ways to restore the cultural landscape. By dedicating ourselves to collaborative action against racist policies, we will restore and revitalize our communities.
About the Authors:
Sally Bagshaw is a Senior Fellow in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. Previously, she was elected and served 10 years on the Seattle City Council. As Councilmember, she was appointed to the Sound Transit Board Governance Committee, the Regional Transit Committee, Regional Water Quality Committee, the Puget Sound Regional Council, and the Association of Washington Cities. Sally is a lawyer and was chief legal counsel for King County departments including Metro Transit.
Scott Bonjukian is an urban planner/designer and frequent writer about urban issues. Scott received his master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Washington and helps communities plan their futures at MAKERS architecture and urban design, a Seattle firm. His expertise is in helping communities meet their design, land use, and housing objectives. He is co-founder and co-chair of Lid I-5, a visionary civic initiative to reconnect Seattle’s core.
John Feit is the Principal Architect and Founder of 3+ Architects. John has his master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia and has generously helped to create designs for major urban projects such as Seattle's Waterfront. He chairs the Pike Pine Urban Neighborhood Council in Seattle and is co-founder and co-chair of the Lid I-5 initiative.