Freeway Removal
Plan to Potentially Remove Downtown Milwaukee’s Interstate Faces Public Scrutiny
The public is weighing in on a suite of options for repairing, replacing, or removing Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee.
More Options Presented for Minneapolis I-94 Project
Two new proposals for replacing the freeway with at-grade segments offer new visions for the future of downtown Minneapolis.
GAO: Reconnecting Communities Lacks Clear Goals and Metrics
The program, aimed at supporting highway removals and other projects that work to reverse the impacts of freeway construction, is light on accountability and performance measures, according to a new report.
The Limitations of ‘Reconnecting Communities’
The Biden administration has pledged to correct the damage imposed on communities by highways and infrastructure, but many projects are only committing to minor improvements, not transformative changes.
Dallas City Council to Vote on Controversial Freeway Trenching Plan
A proposal to bury part of Interstate 345 in a 65-foot trench is the latest in a debate that has lasted more than ten years as the freeway reaches the end of its useful life.
Freeway Removal Projects Gain Momentum
Thanks to decades of activism and newly available federal funding, state and local governments are starting to understand the negative impacts of highway construction and working to reverse the effects on cities around the nation.
How To Effectively Fight for Freeway Removal
Lessons from community activists around the country provide insight into how ‘freeway fighters’ can leverage recent momentum against road expansions to have more impact in 2023.
USDOT Awards Reconnecting Communities Grants
The first $185 million in grants were awarded to projects that aim to improve mobility and reconnect neighborhoods isolated by highways and other infrastructure projects.
Opinion: Hit the Brakes on Dallas Freeway Plan
A proposal to bury a Dallas freeway may not be the best way forward for the area’s residents.
What Will Highway Removal Funding Actually Fund?
The federal Reconnecting Communities program is aimed at supporting highway removal and reversing the damage caused by rampant freeway construction, but some watered down proposals from state agencies could fund road expansion instead.
‘Reconnecting Communities’ Could Fund Highway Expansions
Applications to the program reveal a pattern of state agencies requesting funds for projects that perpetuate car-centric development with only nominal equity components.
Visualizing Columbus Before Freeways
A new project uses historical records to reconstruct what Columbus neighborhoods looked like before freeways displaced them.
Colorado DOT Defends Highway Maintenance
While the department has canceled some road expansion projects, the agency has no plans to remove highways, calling them the “bread and butter” of the state’s transportation network.
Baltimore Seeks Federal Highway Removal Grant
Advocates of highway removal hope the Reconnecting Communities Act will help fund efforts to tear down a freeway that devastated West Baltimore neighborhoods.
Detroit Freeway Removal Plan Awarded Federal Grant
A decade-old plan to elevate a below-grade segment of Interstate 375 and replace it with a lower-speed boulevard could begin two years ahead of schedule thanks to USDOT funding.
$1.5 Billion Awarded for Transportation Projects, Including $100 Million to Remove a Detroit Freeway
The latest round of federal infrastructure funding includes the largest contribution to emerge, so far, from the 2021 infrastructure bill for the removal of an urban freeway.
The Case for Urban Highway Removal
Instead of removing urban freeways, which have proven to be destructive to communities and economies—in some cases deliberately so—many cities are expanding freeways in and around cities.
‘Freeways Without Futures’ Spotlights Freeway Removal Efforts
Around the country, cities and states are starting to listen to decades-old demands to remove freeways that have displaced and fractured communities.
Freeway Removal Movement Slowly Gains Steam
Although the concept has recently received more national attention thanks in part to the federal Reconnecting Communities Act, cities have shown reluctance to support highway removal projects.
A How-To for ‘Freeway Fighters’
Ten recommendations for effective freeway removal advocacy.
Placer County
City of Morganton
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Dongguan Binhaiwan Bay Area Management Committee
City of Waukesha, WI
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Indiana Borough
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