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‘Legacy Highways’ Are Some of Our Most Dangerous Stroads — And It’s Time to Fix Them, US DOT Says

States already have the money to retrofit their "orphan highways" to be safer for people outside cars — if they'd just put it to good use.

August 8, 2024

Wider Highways Don’t Solve Congestion. So Why Are We Still Knocking Down Homes for Them?

Highway expansion projects certainly qualify as projects for public use. But do they deliver a public benefit that justifies taking private property?

May 3, 2024

The Biggest Wins — And Disappointments — From the ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Grants

"Until we overhaul our transportation system to redirect the majority of funding into community-oriented infrastructure investments, we will keep failing to meet our equity, climate, and maintenance goals."

March 22, 2024

Letter from Minneapolis: The Legacy of Highway Construction

Highways were convenient tools to rid the cities of perceived social ills, a mindset deeply embedded in white supremacy.

March 12, 2024

Can This Tiny Owl Defeat One of America’s Biggest Highway Projects?

This less-than-pint-sized bird plays a massive role in keeping the Sonoran desert in balance. Now, it could tackle its most fierce opponent yet: the American highway lobby.

January 8, 2024

The I-35 Expansion in Austin, Texas Shows Why States Should Never Control Their Own Environmental Review Process

A little-known loophole in federal law allows states like Texas to rubber-stamp their own environmental reviews — even when the projects they're reviewing are harmful highway boondoggles.

October 30, 2023

White Roads Through Black Bedrooms: How Urban Freeways Cemented Spatial Inequalities

Urban freeways are having a moment of serious reconsideration.

October 19, 2023

Who Gets Peace and Quiet?: Urban Noise in the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 stay-at-home advisories of 2020, the world quieted. As a community noise researcher, I felt the changes acutely.

October 18, 2023

Highways to Hell: How One Country is Rethinking Road Investment

The Wales Roads Review – an unprecedented examination of whether investment in over fifty local road schemes should continue – signals high-profile change by the Welsh Government, prompted by the climate emergency.

October 9, 2023

Why Democrats and Republicans Alike Keep Expanding Highways

A Democratic governor's controversial decision to pick up a road-widening effort where his Republican predecessor left off is sparking a conversation about why U.S. leaders across party lines keep pushing for the same old harmful highway projects.

September 11, 2023