Do highways produce economic growth?

The conviction of Shreveport’s pro-ICC side that having I-49 run through its center will produce an economic windfall for the city is at odds with the current trend of cities all over the United States and the world. They are either dismantling their urban highways or planning to because their upkeep has become too expensive. In fact, cities that have taken down their innercity highways and replaced them with surface streets -- San Francisco, Milwaukee, Seoul, South Korea, for example – have seen their downtowns thrive. John Perkins, a Shreveport native who opposes the I-49 ICC, says cities using the “more permeable, multi-use routes such as boulevards and parkways” often revitalize neighborhoods along or near these types of roadways. Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans are all considering tearing down at least some of their innercity highways.

But the Shreveport groups who want the I-49 ICC look at the swirl of highways inside Dallas, the closest major city to Shreveport, and see it as a major reason for Dallas’ economic success. Their representatives have even suggested having inner city highways is a necessary stage for Shreveport to go through in order to have a strong economy. (Shreveport is not bereft of innercity highways; Interstate 20 already goes through its downtown.)

They believe a completed I-49 that goes through Shreveport’s center will attract businesses—not just gas stations and fast food restaurants along the highway—but ones that would move to Shreveport because it (finally) would have the “correct” infrastructure. NLCOG greatly bolstered their case by estimating the I-49 ICC’s annual economic impact would be $800 million, which anti-ICC people do not think is feasible. None of the people advocating for the I-49 ICC would lose their home or business or see their neighborhoods disrupted by a highway being built through it.

For Allendale residents, an elevated highway being built through their community would affect them personally. There are the people who would lose their homes. Even those who wouldn’t lose their homes would see the quality of their lives degraded. The I-49 ICC’s most obvious effects are the increase in traffic through the neighborhood, which would cause air and noise pollution. It would also be an eyesore.

Less obvious, though, is that the highway would produce a “border vacuum,” a barrier that discourages or even prevents people from crossing it, either on foot or in vehicles, to get from one area to another. (Few people will try to cross an interstate highway and not many like walking under them either.) The pollution and the border vacuum effect would cause property values to drop because few people want to live or run a business next to or under a highway. While residents forced to move out because of eminent domain will receive the “fair market value” for their property, once there is even a plan in place to build a highway, those affected residents will see their property values drop. The deteriorating quality of life and the drop in property values will lead to people moving out of Allendale, not just those pushed out by eminent domain. It would become a blighted, abandoned area, as it once was decades ago. We'll cover more of the history of this neighborhood later this week.