highway removal
Highway Removal Slowed by Outdated Policy, Lack of Committed Funding
Resistance from state transportation departments and precarious funding sources mean highway removal projects are few and far between, despite their benefits.
Milwaukee Interstate Removal Would Create Space for Thousands of New Housing Units
A proposal to replace the elevated Interstate 794 with a boulevard could create over a billion dollars in new development along the corridor.
Bridging Divides: The Crucial Role of Collaboration in Highway Removal
Highway removal is most successful when agencies at all levels of government work closely with each other and the impacted community.
Minneapolis Leaders Urge State DOT to Rethink Highway Expansion Plans
Current MnDOT plans call for widening Interstate 94, but city leaders from Minneapolis and St. Paul want to see more space for public transit, walking, and biking.
Reconnecting Communities Grant Round Offers $600M for Highway Mitigation Projects
The program is part of the 2021 infrastructure law and calls for improving access in communities disadvantaged by freeways.
NYC Suburb Plans for New Linear Park
An update to the city’s zoning code makes way for a project that would reclaim a former highway and create new green space and recreation opportunities.
Rochester Shows Possible Future for Former Highways
A former freeway is undergoing a massive redevelopment that goes beyond highway removal to reconnect and revitalize surrounding areas.
LA County Receives Reconnecting Communities Grants
Seven grant awards totaling $162 million will be used for planning, capital projects, and regional partnerships to reduce environmental harm and improve access in disadvantaged communities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
