The Claiborne overpass carries Interstate 10 directly through the historically Black neighborhood of Treme in New Orleans — one of many examples of urban highways that targeted non-white communities.
Photographer: Bryan Tarnowski/BloombergRepairing the Roads That Were Built to Divide
Urban planner Veronica Davis talks about her book Inclusive Transportation and the role of equity in street design.
At a White House press conference in November 2021, US Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was asked about racism in transportation. He responded by referencing highways that were “built for the purpose of dividing a white and a Black neighborhood” and mentioning an infamous anecdote from Robert Caro’s tome The Power Broker, about how planner Robert Moses designed parkways on Long Island with overpasses too low to accommodate the buses that Black and Latino families might use to reach the beach.
The resulting backlash from the political right was predictable. “The roads are racist,” scoffed Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Twitter. “We must get rid of roads.”