Justice and the Interstates

Amanda Phillips de Lucas

ISBN 10: 1642832618 / ISBN 13: 9781642832617

Published by Princeton University Press, US, 2023

About this Item

"Seventy years of a car-only approach-not car-centric, it's car-only-is actually not just non-driver hostile, it's driver hostile. Noone benefits." -Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for AmericaThe car-only approach in transportation planning and engineering has led to the construction of roadways that have tornapart and devalued communities, especially Black and Brown communities. Forging a new path to repair this damagerequires a community solutions-based approach to planning, designing, and building our roadways. When LynnPeterson began working as a transportation engineer, she was taught to evaluate roadway projects based only on metricsrelated to driver safety, allowable speed for the highest number of cars, project schedule, and budget. Involving thecommunity and collaborating with peers were never part of the discussion. Today, Peterson is a recognized leader intransportation planning and engineering, known for her approach that is rooted in racial equity, guided by a process ofcommunity engagement, and includes collaboration with other professionals.In Roadways for People, Lynn Peterson draws from her personal experience and interviews with leaders in the field toshowcase new possibilities within transportation engineering and planning. She incorporated a community-solutionsbased approach in her work at Metro, TriMet, and while running the Washington State Department of Transportation,where she played an instrumental role in the largest transportation bill in that state's history. The communitysolutions-based approach moves away from the narrow standards of traditional transportation design and focusesinstead on a process that involves consistent feedback, learning loops, and meaningful and regular communityengagement. This approach seeks to address the transportation needs of the most historically marginalized members ofthe community.Roadways for People is written to empower professionals and policymakers to create transportation solutions that servepeople rather than cars. Examples across the U.S.-from Portland, Oregon to Baltimore, Maryland-show what ispossible with a community-centered approach. As traditional highway expansions are put on pause around the country,professionals and policymakers have an opportunity to move forward with a better approach. Peterson shows them how.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781642832617

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Justice and the Interstates
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, US
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1642832618
• ISBN 13: 9781642832617
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

When the U.S. interstate system was constructed, spurred by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, many highways were purposefully routed through Black, Brown, and poor communities. These neighborhoods were destroyed, isolated from the rest of the city, or left to deteriorate over time.

Edited by Ryan Reft, Amanda Phillips de Lucas, and Rebecca Retzlaff, Justice and the Interstates examines the toll that the construction of the U.S. Interstate Highway System has taken on vulnerable communities over the past seven decades, details efforts to restore these often- segregated communities, and makes recommendations for moving forward. It opens up new areas for historical inquiry, while also calling on engineers, urban planners, transportation professionals, and policymakers to account for the legacies of their practices.

The chapters, written by diverse experts and thought leaders, look at different topics related to justice and the highway system, including:

• A history of how White supremacists used interstate highway routing in Alabama to disrupt the civil rights movement
• The impact of the highway in the Bronzeville area of Milwaukee
• How the East Los Angeles Interchange disrupted Eastside communities and displaced countless Latino households
• Efforts to restore the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul

Justice and the Interstates provides a concise but in-depth examination of the damages wrought by highway construction on the nation’s communities of color. Community advocates, transportation planners, engineers, historians, and policymakers will find a way forward to both address this history and reconcile it with current practices.

About the Author

Ryan Reft is a historian of the Modern U.S. in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. Since 2017, He has worked as senior co-editor of the Urban History Association’s blog, The Metropole.
Amanda Phillips de Lucas is a social scientist and environmental historian. She studies infrastructure, highways, environmental justice, and social movements.
Rebecca Retzlaff is a professor in the Community Planning Program and director of the Academic Sustainability Program at Auburn University. She formerly worked as a planner with the City of Detroit and in the Research Department of the American Planning Association.