Rethinking Downtown Highways

Freeways have had a strong influence not only on urban transportation but also on downtown areas both physically and socially. Certainly, they have extended the commuting limits of the city and made lower land costs more accessible. However, many of the mid-century freeways, once championed by planners and highway engineers as tools for urban renewal, have created swaths of blight through city neighborhoods. Their negative impacts on the larger urban framework require new ideas for healthier alternatives to aid in preserving and building sustainable cities.