Baltimore Seeks Federal Highway Removal Grant

Ashley Stimpson’s latest article in Next City begins with an all-too-familiar anecdote: a Black neighborhood, once woven into the surrounding city and its shops, parks, and services, is cut off by a freeway construction project, many of its residents displaced. 

In this case, Baltimore’s Interstate 170 did just that to the Rosemont neighborhood in the 1970s. “More than 1,500 residents were displaced; 971 homes, 62 businesses, and one school got the wrecking ball. The area would never recover.” Today, “The sunken highway slashes through the landscape like a deep wound, separating neighborhoods and creating air and noise pollution for nearby residents.” 

Now, the city says it will request grant funding through the federal Reconnecting Communities program to tear down the highway, now known as U.S. Route 40. The article describes other notable freeway removal projects, such as Rochester’s East Inner Loop and the removal of a four-lane freeway in Chattanooga. 

These projects aren’t without their critics: “Some Rochester residents complained that the East Inner Loop project lacks sufficient green and retail space. Affordable housing is also a concern; new condos along the boulevard are selling for $500,000, while rent for one-bedroom apartments starts at $1,500.” Advocates insist that revitalization without displacement is possible only with the significant participation of the local community. A group called the Connecting Communities in West Baltimore Coalition is lobbying to be the voice of residents in the neighborhood as the city develops its plan for removing and replacing the road.