The new era of planning infrastructure projects includes a goal of rectifying past wrongs and increasing inclusion in decisions
Engineering News-Record
By Aileen Cho
July 14, 2021
Former U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx grew up on “the wrong side of the tracks.”
“My home was a stone’s throw from Interstates 85 and 77,” recalls Foxx, who grew up in Charlotte, N.C., and served as DOT Secretary from 2013-17 under President Barack Obama. “The airport was nearby. Planes flew at low altitude over our house. Whether or not I was using the system, I sure heard and saw a lot of it.” Desirable areas to live were far away from transportation infrastructure, “and the property values of those living near these projects was diminished.”
The era of interstate construction was often shaped by blatantly racist practices such as redlining. In redlining, mortgages in favorable areas were refused to Black people, who then were forced to locate in areas often classified as “slums.” That land, and those areas, were then considered dispensable, less valuable and prime locations for interstates.
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