Alana Semuels, staff writer for The Atlantic, examines highway teardowns beginning with the San Francisco Embarcadero in 1989 to see how they have worked in terms of revitalizing poorer areas or restoring the urban fabric that they destroyed.

"As some of the highways reach the end of their useful life, cities and counties are debating the idea of tearing down urban freeways and replacing them with boulevards, streets, and new neighborhoods," writes Semuels.
Semuels writes on the findings of a study, "Urban Interstate Rights-of-Way as Sites of Intervention" released last year by Ted Shelton and Amanda Gann of the University of Tennessee.
“The removal of urban interstates is a growing trend in the U.S,” write Shelton and Gann. "This trend, if carried to its logical extreme, can yield sites of intervention that hold the promise of remaking the American city."
“Where urban highway construction did occur, in urban design terms, it was highly detrimental to the urban fabric; creating physical and psychological rifts that are extremely difficult to bridge and introducing a substantial source of noise and air pollution [...] Cities across the country continue to struggle with this legacy.”
Milwaukee's removal of Park East freeway in 1999 yielded important lessons for cities considering similar teardowns.
"(U)rban development has blossomed in the neighborhoods created by the highway’s removal. Manpower Corporation moved its headquarters to the area, and the average assessed land value there grew 45 percent.
It’s an important lesson for some of the nation’s most economically depressed cities, which are considering urban freeway removal projects as a means of economic development.
Semuels points to New Haven, Conn., "in the midst of a project called Downtown Crossing, which has removed parts of Route 34 and is putting up new buildings in an area of town bisected by the freeway," and ends with Syracuse, N.Y., debating a teardown of I-81 which "bisected the city when it was completed in the 1960s."
Suburban residents and business owners want to see the elevated portions of the highway expanded or rebuilt. New Urbanists want the highway torn down and a boulevard constructed in a way that could encourage the development of pedestrian-friendly businesses and parks.
A short summary of they teardowns was posted as a Planetizen exclusive in 2007 by Charles Siegel and an updated edition here.
FULL STORY: Highways Destroyed America's Cities

Four ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Zoning Reforms
An excerpt from the latest book on zoning argues for four approaches to reform that can immediately improve land use regulation in the United States.

San Francisco Just Ended Single-Family Zoning
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to Tuesday to eliminate single-family zoning, but pro-development advocates say additional changes are needed to unleash a wave of construction.

Land Banking to Prevent Transit-Oriented Displacement in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will implement a new land banking program to mitigate gentrification and displacement around future transit lines.

Something Old, Something New: Biden’s Housing Plan
President Biden’s Housing Supply Action Plan is a catchall of existing proposals, tiny tweaks, and things Congress would have to fund—plus a few genuinely interesting administrative moves. Here’s the rundown.

Long Beach Opens New Water Playground
The coastal city just celebrated the grand opening of its newest beach attraction, an inflatable aquatic playground called the “Wibit.”

Houston Apartments To Be Demolished for Freeway Widening
Despite a federal hold on the controversial freeway widening project, the Texas Department of Transportation is pushing ahead with the demolition of an apartment complex in downtown Houston.
Grand Valley Metropolitan Council
City of Bothell
Town of San Anselmo
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
City of Apache Junction
City of Helena
Gallatin County, Montana
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.