TRENTON, NEW JERSEY: Route 29
Route 29 separates people in downtown Trenton from accessing the Delaware River. Some residents have been calling for the freeway's removal since the 1980s, arguing it has severed communities and hindered their growth.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission awarded in 2016 a $100,000 grant to Trenton's downtown redevelopment project to study Route 29's removal. The funding is currently being used to study turning Route 29 into an urban boulevard with pedestrian access.
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK: Interstate 81 (The Viaduct)
A 1.4-mile stretch of Interstate 81 cuts straight through Syracuse, separating University Hill from downtown Syracuse. The highway cuts through historically black and Hispanic neighborhoods, which has deprived growth in the area. The freeway is largely considered underutilized.
The New York Department of Transportation has hired an engineering consultant firm to evaluate replacing the highway. One option under consideration is replacing the raised viaduct with a tunnel.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Interstate 280 spur
A 1.2-mile portion of Interstate 280 highway links US 101 to Mission Bay in San Francisco. City officials have said tearing down the highway could provide access to 30 acres of unoccupied land for housing development. It would also help enhance public transit services like Caltrain.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has endorsed the highway's removal. A feasibility study is currently underway.
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: Inner Loop
Completed in 1965, the Inner Loop is just under three-miles long and wraps around downtown Rochester, as the name suggests. Since its construction, the population in downtown Rochester has declined.
A mile-long segment of the Inner Loop is currently being filled in so it can be converted into a three-lane boulevard with a sidewalk, parking, and greenery.
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA: Route 710
Built in the 1960s, the highway cuts through Pasadena and interrupts several surrounding neighborhoods. Since its construction there has been a long and bitter battle over the interstate's fate.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed connecting 710 to the 210 Freeway via tunnel while community activists fight to convert it into a boulevard.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA: Interstate 980
Completed in 1985, the two-mile freeway runs from Interstate 880 to Jack London Square in Oakland. I-980 had devastating effects on neighborhoods in West Oakland. It's considered an underutilized highways.
ConnectOAKLAND, a community group, in 2014 put together a rendering that reenivisions the freeway as a converted boulevard. The city is receptive to the idea, but planning is still in the early stages.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Interstate 375
Constructed in 1959, Interstate 375 is barely over one-mile long. It cut through and subsequently destroyed the Black Bottom district, a historic black neighborhood that was home to the Paradise Valley entertainment zone, which hosted legends like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald performed.
The Michigan Department of Transportation and Detroit Downtown Development Authority started considering the highway's removal in 2014, despite it existing in the heart of the auto industry. Alternatives for the highway are currently under consideration.
DENVER, COLORADO: Interstate 70
Built in the 1960s, Interstate 70 cuts through three historic minority neighborhoods in Denver: Elyria, Swansea, and Globeville. The highway is said to have deprived growth and contributed to rising pollution rates in those three areas.
The Colorado Department of Transportation is planning to spend $1.2 billion on expanding the highway an additional four lanes. Community groups like Unite North Metro Denver have called for the freeway to be transformed into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard.
DALLAS, TEXAS: Interstate 345
Constructed in 1964, I-345 is a 1.4-mile elevated freeway that cuts through downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum, a historic jazz neighborhood — depriving growth in the immediate surrounding areas.
The Congress for the New Urbanism notes that the resurgence of downtown Dallas in the early 2000s has pushed the state government to reconsider I-345's purpose. A New Dallas, a nonprofit, successfully pushed the Texas Department of Transportation to conduct a feasibility study that will look into tearing down the interstate.
BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Scajaquada Expressway
Constructed by urban planner Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1960s, the Scajaquada Expressway runs along Route 198 in Buffalo, New York. It's a 3.6-mile, four-lane highway that cuts right through Delaware Park and is cited as a source of pollution, noise, and dangerous traffic.
The city of Buffalo and New York Department of Transportation has explored ways to redesign the highway since 2005. Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2016 set aside $30 million to convert the Scajaquada into a low-speed boulevard.
Source: Business Insider India