The Expressway Teardown Movement in American Cities

Abstract

At least two dozen American cities have discussed or planned removals or teardowns of inner-city elevated expressways, and a few cities have already done so. In the 1970s, Boston, New York City, and Portland, Oregon initiated such teardowns, each with a different replacement: Boston began replacing its elevated Central Artery with a system of tunnels, later known as the Big Dig; New York replaced its West Side Highway with a street-level boulevard; and Portland bulldozed its Harbor Drive to make way for a waterfront park. Now, many cities are re-evaluating past highway policy that pushed elevated interstate highways through central cities, with consequent severe damage to housing, businesses, and neighborhoods. The teardown movement is high on the agenda of the Congress for the New Urbanism, now headed by John Norquist. A former Mayor of Milwaukee, Norquist pioneered the twenty-first century expressway teardown in an effort to eliminate an unneeded eyesore and spur downtown economic development. This article surveys the debate over teardown policy in several cities. It also analyzes the movement generally, suggesting that the main thrust is to compensate for past decisions that damaged central cities, but that the movement poses no threat to the heavily used urban expressways that millions of drivers rely on every day. Many teardown advocates have also promoted greater investment in mass transit and light rail.