Work In Progress - Interstate Highway at 70

This project will explore the impact of the Interstate Highway System on American cities in anticipation of the 70th anniversary of the roadway in 2026. It is an extension of a visual impact study I shot in St. Louis in 2016 The project received national and local media attention. Features appeared in print and on-line versions of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, and online in the Huffington Post, NextCity, and Fast Company. Visit the two additional portfolios on this site- "The Interstate at 60, St. Louis at 252" and "End of The Road".

TULSA, OK, Greenwood Historic District, I-244, 2018

TULSA, OK, Downtown, I-244, 2018

DALLAS, TX, Deep Ellum Neighborhood, I-45, 2018

Des Moines, IA, State Capitol, 1884, I-235, 2018

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Basilica of St. Mary, erected 1914, I-94, 2018

KANSAS CITY, MO - Reverend Wesley Williams statue, I-70, 2018

KANSAS CITY, MO, Daycare playground, I-70, 2018

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL, I-64, 2018

The quote below is from NEXTSTL.COM, 4-27-2012 "The Interstate's Impact on East St. Louis", by Michael Brickey -

"The inability of East St. Louis to affect the bridge placement decision showed its political weakness in the region and revealed the insignificance of East St. Louis to bi-state metropolitan planning. Perhaps the most significant effect of the interstate was simply its lasting permanence on the East St. Louis landscape. The network of elevated roadways and the complex system of interchanges became, in the words of contemporary planning analyst Robert Mendelson, a “writhing, spaghetti-shaped interstate highway system…a high-speed raceway through desirable riverfront property and through the city as a whole.” From the surface level, the complicated tangle of roadways and the hundreds of concrete pillars that support them fractured the city and prevented access to the riverfront."

Popular St. Bridge ramps viewed from Trendley Ave, East St. Louis, IL

Poplar St. Bridge ramps viewed from Trendley Ave., East St. Louis, IL

Abandoned theater on Collinsville Ave. in East St. Louis IL framed by Poplar St. Bridge access ramp

Theater, Collinsville Ave., East St. Louis,, IL -detail from previous photo

Chicago, I-290, I-90/94 Interchange, 2018

According to an article at https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/eisenhower/, Chicago's history of transformative superhighway construction predates the arrival of the interstate highway system by decades. The current I-290 follows the 1949 westward extension of Congress Street from downtown through the city's Near West Side. The construction of the road that would be dubbed the Eisenhower Expressway displaced an estimated 13,000 residents.

Kansas City, KS 2018

Kansas City, MO 2018

I-44 cuts through Will Rogers Park in Oklahoma City, OK 2019

I-70 Interchange north of Denver, Co 2019

I-480 Omaha, NE 2019

I-380 Cedar Rapids, IA 2019

I 40 & 25 Interchange Albuquerque, NM 2019

The I-40/65 Interchange in Nashville, TN wiped out a historic african-american neighborhood, leaving a string of truncated, dead end streets and houses looking out on to a busy highway.

life goes on in nashville, tn despite two interstate highways converging in a once vibrant neighborhood.

This historic marker of the jefferson street music district in Nashville, tn is a poor substitute for a thriving cultural area displaced by the interstate highway.

murals and historical column wraps under the Interstate 40 road bed are a respectful reminder that a thriving african-american community once occupied this place before its obliteration by a stretch of highway that could have followed a number of alternate routes through or around the city of nashville.

A mural on the i-40 overpass at jefferson st. in nashville marks the heroics of the freedom riders . this stretch of interstate highway destroyed an african-american neighborhood.

The baseball bat in the skyline reveals this city's identity

Louisville, KY, I -65, 2019

The Idle is an innovative pocket park in indianapolis, IN situated between legs of I-65 and I-70 that divided the city. Read about it here:

http://www.idleindy.com/about.html

I-94 east of rapid City, sd

Interstate 94 cuts through the 70,447 acre Theodore Roosevelt national park in North dakota

i-94 outside richardton, nd

i-35, Duluth, MN

duluth, mn stood up to the federal government, who planned to run 1-35 on an elevated highway along the city's lakefront. this would have cut much of the city off from lake superior and destroyed leif erickson park and rose garden. The highway runs in a tunnel under this beautiful park. a convenient number of pedestrian overpasses respect residents use of their city.

I-10, Mobile Al

I-10, Colonial Fort Conde, Mobile, AL

I-85, MT Zion AME Church, Montgomery, AL

This Church was the site of the inception of the montgomery bus boycott in155.

The interchange for I-65 & I-85 cut Through three primarily african-American neighborhoods in Montgomery,Al. the interstate destroyed many businesses and about 1,700 residences. The mount zion ame church is in the background

I-65, Our lady of lebanon grotto and st, elias columbarium, Birmingham, AL

I-65, Cave City, KY

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