10 Recommendations for Freeway Fighters

With the release of the Reconnecting Communities grant and the continued interest in the relocation or removal of highways in American cities, it’s essential for freeway fighters to understand best practices in highway removal. Here are my top 10 recommendations for any aspiring freeway fighters.

*Jay Arzu, PhD student in City and Regional Planning and fellow freeway fighter.*

1. Highway-to-Boulevard Projects Should Focus on Neighborhood Reconnection and Reinvestment for Current Residents of the Area.

Imagine this: You are living in an area that was largely demolished for a highway or urban renewal, many of the stores and businesses you once frequented are gone, and many of your neighbors you knew have relocated or were forced to move for the highway’s construction.

Over several decades, you get used to the highway being there; you see it as a part of your daily commute, perhaps a part of your neighborhood fabric. Now state officials want to right a wrong by removing a highway that shouldn’t have been built in the first place. Your neighbors are scared that removing the highway will lead to gentrification and displacement throughout the community. They feel the process doesn’t include them and that the new infrastructure isn’t for them.

Put yourself in the shoes of communities that have gone through the emotions of highway removal. These areas will be affected the most by the deconstruction of the highway, and residents could be displaced if the area becomes too desirable. To mitigate the issues these communities will face, they must be partners from the start of the project, not the middle, and certainly not to check off a box. What do current residents want and what anti-displacement tools can be implemented to keep them in their communities?

You can find a great example of how to address this challenging and complicated question in Syracuse, New York, with the Blueprint 15 project. The Syracuse Housing Authority and partners are looking to redevelop its housing stock into a mixed-use, mixed-income community. This redevelopment will be happening adjacent to the I-81 Viaduct Project that will replace the aging 1-81 with a multi-modal boulevard. Both projects will most likely coincide, increasing the risk of displacement. To mitigate this, the Blueprint 15 team is filled with community stakeholders and leaders who are working to advance a holistic approach to neighborhood development that reflects the needs and wants of neighborhood residents. The group has held resident listening sessions to educate the community on the project and increase support. While the I-81 Viaduct Project and Blueprint 15 projects are a few years away, developing these critical relationships with their communities well in advance of project implementation means there is time to work on preventing displacement.

2. Any Plan To Remove a Highway Must Include the Input of Residents and Must Employ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Design, Implementation and Construction.

If you plan to remove, relocate, or bury a highway, community engagement throughout the process is essential. My biggest recommendation is to look for equity-serving, community-based organizations (CBO) to work directly with. CBOs are a great way to connect with potential community ambassadors and get better input on how infrastructural changes could affect a community.

3. Traffic Data Will Always Be an Excuse for Why a Highway Shouldn’t Be Removed.

Rochester, New York, is steadily moving toward removing the northern section of its Inner Loop. Overall, the community is behind the preferred concept that will essentially recreate the original street grid. Unfortunately, the project has one sour apple: an interchange to I-490. The new interchange would sit on land adjacent to a historic district that could have been redeveloped, and many community activists have voiced concern over it. Still, they have been told by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) that the interchange is needed to prevent overcrowding at downtown highway exits. This is one example of how traffic data and metrics can and will be used against freeway fighters, even in projects where highways are actively being removed.

An aerial view of a city grid. — *(Source:* *Unsplash*.)

4. Trust Your City’s Street Grid.

In Providence, Rhode Island, the IWay project set a considerable precedent: trust your city’s street grid. Providence relocated I-195 2,000 feet to the south of its former alignment, opening up redevelopment along the old highway’s 20-acre corridor. With the highway removed, the city’s grid was extended through the recaptured land and parks created along the waterfront, spurring development efforts for the area. Just imagine a neighborhood that was once divided by a highway, and had very minimal development, but is today a walkable and thriving urban environment with a particular emphasis on life science, research, development, and residential development.

5. Create Visuals/Renderings Showcasing the Opportunities for Your City if the Highway Was Removed.

Seeing is believing. Being an urban planning wonk, I love highway removal work and have an excellent grasp of how it works—and if you’re reading this article, chances are that you do, as well. The challenge is bringing that level of understanding to the general public. Presenting pictures and renderings showing a highway removal impact can be a game changer for any highway removal project.

6. When You Remove a Highway, Traffic Will Not Come.

The Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle was set to close on January 11, 2019, but the new tunnel to replace the highway wouldn’t open until February 4, 2019. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) predicted that this closure would be the longest highway closure the region had ever seen. The 90,000 daily drivers who used the viaduct would need to find another route or mode of transportation to get to their destination. WSDOT expected commuters to face significant traffic slowdowns from added traffic volumes and downtown Seattle surface streets. In reality, the promised gridlock never materialized; many drivers who would typically take the viaduct hopped on bikes, jumped on buses, and rode on ferries. The effects on adjacent highways were minimal. When a highway is closed or removed, people change their travel behaviors and are willing to switch to other modes of transit out of convenience.

*Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition in Seattle, WA. (Source:* *Unsplash*.)

7. Get the Development Community on Your Side.

When you remove a highway, you create developable parcels as seen with removal projects in Rochester and Providence. The more parcels created by highway removal, the better for development and reconnection. The development community should be a part of highway removal conversations because they can play a significant role in creating the healthy, walkable communities we desire. It’s the duty of both the community and developers to implement equity within all aspects of the project.

8. Land Trust/Banks Are a Huge Asset.

While developers are important, it doesn’t mean that community members cannot take control of development in their place. One great way to do that is to create land trusts and land banks for neighborhood improvement. Community members could lead land trusts/banks in partnership with community-based organizations or the development community. These tools can be used in a public-private partnership to create development that’s in scale with adjacent neighborhoods and encourage home ownership.

9. In the Long-Term, Take Control of MP0’s and DOT’s.

It is no surprise that some of our MPOs and State DOTs push auto-centric infrastructure investments. If more like-minded urbanists and freeway fighters were in leadership positions in these organizations, we could make change from within. We need State DOTs to operate like the reliable city-run DOTs, such as DDOT in Washington, DC, or NYCDOT in New York City. These city-run DOTs have been able to push for best practices in street design elements and safety improvements. In the future, our State DOTs must operate with a deeper focus on eliminating vehicle miles traveled, reconnecting communities, and improving pedestrian safety.

10. No Highway Is Permanent!

In 1950, Harbor Drive became Portland’s first limited-access highway. In the 1950s, Portland’s waterfront was a very industrial place where citizens did not go unless they worked in the area. For motorists, Harbor Drive saved minutes of off-travel time because of how congested downtown Portland streets were. Things started to shift because expanding Harbor Drive was not feasible, due to the development surrounding the highway—including a significant public market. Harbor Drive was permanently closed on May 23, 1974, becoming the first highway to be intentionally removed in the U.S. Construction soon began on a new Waterfront Park that would replace the highway, opening in 1978. Portland renamed the new waterfront park after Governor Tom McCall, the policymaker who spearheaded its construction.