When President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 – ordering the construction of 33,000 miles of interstate highways across the United States – it was never his intention to run those freeways through urban areas. “…The matter of running Interstate routes through congested parts of cities was entirely against his original concept and wishes; he never anticipated the program would turn out this way,” reads a memorandum from a 1960 meeting in the Oval Office.

But with $25 billion earmarked over ten years – at the time, the largest public works project in American history – local politicians saw a fiscal opportunity they couldn’t ignore. With the assistance of planners, economists, and industry lobbyists, they argued that urban freeways would transport suburban commuters into the core, bringing personal mobility and financial prosperity for all. Building these (often elevated) freeways also provided them with adequate cover to demolish lower-income, multi-ethnic parts of town they viewed as “blight”, under the guise of “urban renewal”.

Sixty years later, these metropolitan expressways are widely considered one of the worst planning mistakes of the 20th century. They exacerbated the devastating effects of car dependency and suburban sprawl like inefficient land use, congestion, traffic violence, climate change, social inequality, lack of affordability, obesity, declining air quality, and increased social isolation.

Equally as detrimental are the roles they've played in physically dissecting and segmenting our communities, creating physical and psychological barriers between neighbourhoods, waterfronts, shopping districts, and all of the other amenities that make our cities vibrant, connected, and enjoyable places to live.

Worst of all, the shortsighted thinking behind “urban renewal” wasn’t isolated to the United States, as American-inspired transportation engineers spread the same flawed concept to cities around the world, many of whom were desperately looking for ways to deal with unprecedented post-war growth.

The Story of Vancouver’s Successful Freeway Fight