Transportation
No New Highways to Nowhere
In repairing the damage done by highways that divided communities of color, the US risks creating new disasters under the $1 trillion infrastructure law.
The “Highway to Nowhere” in Baltimore, in February 2023.
Photographer: Julio Cortez/AP PhotoOne of the many devious designs of Robert Moses, Baltimore’s “Highway to Nowhere” has stood as a 1.4-mile gash through the western part of the city for decades. A trench of traffic, these six lanes symbolize so much of what our nation got wrong with its urban highways.
More than 1,000 homes and businesses were razed and a vibrant community was broken apart by the highway’s construction in the 1970s. It was a miserable failure — even by the ostensible goal of connecting white suburbanites to their downtown offices.