Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Highway Expansion

Houston’s Big Chance to Turn Back the Tide of Car Traffic

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 29, 2016 | No Comments

There’s a lot riding on Texas DOT’s $7 billion plan for downtown Houston freeways. TxDOT has been working for more than a decade on a plan for the three highways that roughly form a circle around the city — I-45, I-10, and U.S. 59. Last April, the agency revealed a draft version of the plan, and another revision […]

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Massive Highway Expansion Threatens to Destroy Tampa Neighborhoods

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 21, 2016 | No Comments

Most people still think of Tampa as a sprawling, car-centric town, but that is starting to change. In 2014, Smart Growth America [PDF] found that Tampa is shifting toward a more walkable development pattern. The city is starting to build out a bicycle network, and its Riverwalk project is bringing people out to stroll downtown. Tampa’s recent progress could be overwhelmed, however, […]

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The Grassroots Triumph Over a Ruinous Highway Plan for Charleston

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 8, 2016 | No Comments

Highway opponents in Charleston, South Carolina, “beat Goliath.” That’s how the Post and Courier described the finale of a long grassroots campaign to stop the extension of I-526 into Johns Island and James Island. Local officials made it official earlier this month: There will be no highway through the historic island communities outside Charleston. They conceded as much after learning the […]

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The Problem With “Infrastructure Week”

By Angie Schmitt | May 20, 2016 | No Comments

You may have noticed that it’s “Infrastructure Week” in America — a time where engineering and construction industry groups beat the drum for more money, using big numbers and images of collapsing bridges. You can follow the dialogue on Twitter. It’s full of value-neutral statements like this one from Democratic members of the House Committee on Transportation […]

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Seattle’s “Viadoom 2016” — Another Carmageddon That Wasn’t

By Angie Schmitt | May 16, 2016 | No Comments

Heard this one before? The temporary closure of Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct to accommodate construction — code name: “Viadoom” — was going paralyze the city. The elevated highway carries about 110,000 vehicles a day. Without it, travel times would soar 50 percent, predicted the traffic analytics firm Inrix. The highway was closed from April 29 to May 8, […]

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Highway Propaganda Vids Sell City Residents on the Wonders of Wider Roads

By Angie Schmitt | May 3, 2016 | No Comments

It’s not enough for highway builders to carve out land at great public expense so they can jam more cars into cities. Now they want you to believe their projects are great for the neighborhoods that bear the brunt of the added traffic and pollution. Up top is a video produced by the Colorado Department of Transportation to sell the […]

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