Freeway Construction
Report: Bike Lanes Can't Make up for New Roads
If California wants to meet its climate goals, the state must stop funding its myriad road construction and expansion projects.
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Halts $15 Billion Project
After a legal ruling favored resident groups who charged the OTA with illegal practices and a lack of transparency, the authority ordered all work on a major turnpike expansion stopped.
Interstate Expansion to Go Ahead in Houston
The North Houston Highway Improvement Project, stalled by a federal investigation, will now go ahead with only a few tweaks that opponents say don’t go far enough to mitigate the damage it will cause to Houston neighborhoods.
Louisiana Freeway Project Faces Civil Rights Investigation
An interstate project decades in the making is being investigated by federal authorities for claims that it would perpetuate historically racist land use patterns.
TxDOT Recommends a 10-Lane ‘Infrastructure Grave’ in Dallas
Rather than removing the freeway altogether, which the Texas Department of Transportation calls ‘unfeasible,’ the agency recommends burying the road in a billion-dollar, ten-lane trench through the city’s downtown.
California Senate Committee Kills Freeway Expansion Bill
The proposed legislation would have prohibited new construction in historically underserved areas that often bear the burnt of the negative impacts of freeways.
Santa Monica Offers Affordable Housing to Residents Displaced by Freeway Construction
A new program seeks to make restitution for the damage inflicted on Black communities by highway construction and urban renewal.
Federal Memo 'Gently' Discourages Highway Construction
The Federal Highway Administration is urging states to prioritize climate-friendly projects and put federal funds toward repairs and active transportation infrastructure.
California Bill Could Ban Freeway Expansions in Underserved Neighborhoods
A proposed bill in the California State Legislature would bar the state from funding road construction in communities at risk for displacement and health impacts.
Freeway Expansions Continue to Threaten Black and Brown Communities
Despite calls to center equity in infrastructure projects, highway construction and expansion still disproportionately impacts communities of color, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.
Colorado DOT To Study Air Quality Near I-270 Project—Residents Are Skeptical
The Colorado Department of Transportation has pledged to evaluate direct mitigation measures to reduce the impact of construction projects on nearby communities.
Opinion: Washington State Should Stop Funding Freeways
The Urbanist's editorial board calls for an end to highway widening and an increased focus on walking, biking, and transit.
Fifth Ward Residents Oppose Houston's Interstate Expansion
The downtown freeway expansion will displace thousands of housed and unhoused residents and hundreds of small businesses.
A Traffic Solution 'Straight Out of the 1950s'
That's how the Los Angeles Times editorial board characterized the $6 billion plan by Los Angeles Metro to widen the 710 freeway. "A waste of money," they assert. Key to the solution is how to deal with goods movement from the seaport complex.
A History of Female-Led Opposition to Urban Freeways in Spokane, Washington
Former Washington State Representative Margaret Hurley, aided by Margaret Leonard at the local level, saved the Logan neighborhood in Spokane from a freeway plan that would have razed 600 homes. Now the plan is reborn in another part of town.
Legal Spat Over Plan to Widen I-405 in Orange County
Orange County, California transportation officials want to widen the 405 to reduce travel times and ease predicted congestion. The cities of Seal Beach and Long Beach are concerned about how that will impact traffic on surface streets.
Tribal Community Sues Over Phoenix-Area Freeway Plans
The 'South Mountain Freeway' would build a 22-mile freeway extension between Laveen and Chandler. The route's proximity to sacred tribal land has prompted a lawsuit, even after years of planning.
Too Big for Texas? Houston's 23-Lane Freeway
After a $2.3 billion widening project, traffic once again chokes the Katy Freeway's 23 lanes. For road spending critics who are also taxpayers, this I-told-you-so moment is bittersweet.
$5.4 Billion Freeway Plan Would Tunnel Under South Pasadena
One of Southern California's most controversial and (some would say) critical projects is on the radar again—the 710 extension through South Pasadena. Transportation officials are working on a tunnel plan, expected for public comment in February.
What Led L.A. to its Freeway-Building Frenzy?
Jeremy Rosenberg's latest entry in his "Laws That Shaped LA" column looks at the impact of the Collier-Burns Act, a state law passed in 1947 that allowed the city to become "smothered with concrete and asphalt goliaths."
Pagination
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University of Southern California
City of Meridian
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American Planning Association, Sustainable Communities Division
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
Market Building Foundation Inc
Detroit Regional Partnership