Megan Kimble’s new book, City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways, is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the past and future of urban freeways and the opportunity we have to restore the damage they have caused to the urban fabric of American cities. It’s an especially good introduction to “freeway fighting” for those new to the concept.
Kimble weaves a narrative, based on extensive interviews, around three current freeway projects in Texas:
The widening of I-35 through the heart of Austin from 12 lanes to 20 lanes,
The widening of I-45 in Houston, including expanding the downtown loop, and
The reconstruction of I-345 in Dallas.
The common thread among these case studies is the impact that these projects have on individuals and neighborhoods – and on sustaining a car-dependent society that ultimately limits personal freedom. Although many of these stories are depressing (why is Texas destroying its own cities?), she does offer some glimmers of hope for a better future.
Along the way, Kimble also guides the reader through some fascinating history which illuminates the way we ended up with the problematic transportation planning and funding system we live with today. Perhaps the most interesting historical segment is her account of President Eisenhower’s frustration when he discovered that a huge chunk of funding allocated for his new Interstate highway system was being used by states to fund urban freeway projects rather than the long distance, city-to-city connections he envisioned.
Ultimately, as Kimble reminds us, stopping and reversing destructive freeway projects involves more than preventing and remediating harm – it opens up possibilities for the future: “Tearing down a highway is just the beginning.”
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