Taking the highway to right wrongs of the past in urban areas

The country’s highway building boom divided urban neighborhoods and targeted communities of color. A new effort aims to help heal those impacts.

The Center for Public Integrity By Yvette Cabrera September 1, 2023

Roads might not seem like an obvious solution to structural inequalities. But for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, addressing those inequalities requires restoring Black and brown communities torn apart by freeways and highways during the building boom of the mid-20th century.

Over the last year, Buttigieg has crossed the country visiting cities where the Biden administration is funneling federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act dollars to deck over expressways and convert portions of interstate highways into boulevards to reconnect urban neighborhoods left with concrete scars.

View the full article: PublicIntegrity.org