Highway revolts in the United States


have occurred in cities and regions across the United States. In many cities, there remain unused highways, abruptly terminating freeway alignments, and short stretches of freeway in the middle of nowhere, all of which are evidence of larger projects which were never completed. In some instances, freeway revolts have led to the eventual removal or relocation of freeways that had been built.
In the post-World War II economic expansion, there was a major drive to build a freeway network in the United States, including the Interstate Highway System. Design and construction began in earnest in the 1950s, with many cities and rural areas participating. However, many of the proposed freeway routes were drawn up without considering local interests; in many cases, the construction of the freeway system was considered a regional issue that trumped local concerns.
Starting in 1956, in San Francisco, when many neighborhood activists became aware of the effect that freeway construction was having on local neighborhoods, effective city opposition to many freeway routes in many cities was raised. This led to the modification or cancellation of many proposed routes. The freeway revolts continued into the 1970s, further enhanced by concern over the energy crisis and rising fuel costs, as well as a growing environmentalist movement. Responding to massive anti-highway protests in Boston, in February 1970, Governor Francis W. Sargent of Massachusetts ordered a halt to planning and construction of all planned expressways inside the Route 128 loop highway, with the exception of the remaining segments of the Central Artery and the segment of Interstate 93 between East Somerville and the Charles River. However, some proposals for controlled-access freeways have been debated and finalized as a compromise to build them as at-grade expressways.

Arizona

In Phoenix, Arizona, regional planners had long planned a general belt loop and several freeways crossing the Salt River Valley through much of Phoenix, with the key feature to include a central-city portion of Interstate 10, running just south of McDowell Road. I-10 had been built westbound to a point southwest of downtown, where it curved and merged into Interstate 17. The largest unconstructed section of I-10 in the country, beginning just east of the Arizona-California border, was still in its planning stage when a debate began for the Phoenix section. Designers had evolved the proposed Papago Freeway from a typical surface grade to a massive, elevated structure, rising 100 feet through the central city, with "helicoil" interchanges and a lengthy park under the structure. Led primarily by influential Arizona Republic publisher Eugene Pulliam, a massive public relations opposition battle began, citing the freeway sprawl of Los Angeles as a model Pulliam did not want Phoenix embracing. The rhetoric became so heated that in 1973 a non-binding public advisory election was held, resulting in an overwhelming "no" vote for the existing plan. The city and the Arizona State Highway Department scrapped the plans without further efforts for the central city segment. As the completed east-bound portion of I-10 advanced closer, transportation planners pushed for some resolution. By 1984 traffic gridlock had reached the point where planners devised a new plan, with I-10 still running although roughly the same alignment, but instead with the central city portion tunneled through downtown, with a large park on top. The revised I-10/Papago Freeway was opened in 1990.
In Tucson, Arizona, proposed Interstate 710 was to follow current Kino Parkway from I-10 to Broadway Boulevard, connecting I-10 to the University of Arizona and the downtown area. However, heavy opposition to the freeway caused for its cancellation in 1982, and the Tucson area has long been opposed to the rapid urban sprawl and freeways ever since.

California

San Francisco

In San Francisco, public opposition to freeways dates to 1955, when the San Francisco Chronicle published a map of proposed routes. Construction of the elevated Embarcadero Freeway along the downtown waterfront also helped to organize the opposition, articulated by architecture critic Allan Temko, who began writing for the Chronicle in 1961. The 1955 San Francisco Trafficways Plan included the following routes that were never completed:
  • A portion of the Mission Freeway was built and still exists as the near-freeway portion of San Jose Avenue from Interstate 280 to Randall Street. Northeast of that section, it would have run parallel to Mission Street to meet the Central Freeway above Duboce Avenue.
  • The Crosstown Freeway would have run parallel to Bosworth Street and O'Shaughnessy Boulevard from Interstate 280 to the Western Freeway near 7th Avenue. Most of the right of way for this freeway was cleared but it was never built.
  • The Western Freeway would have run north from Interstate 280 along the line of Junipero Serra Boulevard, then tunnelling to 7th Avenue to meet the Crosstown Freeway. It would have then continued north to the southern edge of Golden Gate Park and followed an unspecified route northeast to the eastern end of the Panhandle, continuing east from there between Fell and Oak Streets to meet the Central Freeway.
  • A portion of the Park Presidio Freeway was built as and still exists as CA 1 through the Presidio from the Golden Gate Bridge. South of that section the freeway would have continued, replacing what is now Park Presidio Boulevard, and then tunneled under Golden Gate Park to meet the Western Freeway.
  • A portion of the Central Freeway was built and the original section west from the Bayshore Freeway to Mission Street still exists as US 101. The section northwest from Mission to Market Street was reconstructed in 2004. The section north of Market Street to Golden Gate Avenue was demolished and not rebuilt. The remaining distance to the Golden Gate Freeway was never built.
  • A portion of the Embarcadero Freeway was built from the Bay Bridge approach to Broadway as Interstate 480. The section north of Broadway to the Golden Gate Freeway was never built. The entire freeway was removed after the Loma Prieta earthquake.
  • Most of the Southern Embarcadero Freeway was built and still exists as part of Interstate 280, but the section from Third Street to the Bay Bridge approach was never built. The section between Sixth and Third Streets was removed after the Loma Prieta earthquake.
  • The Golden Gate Freeway along the northern edge of the city from the Embarcadero Freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge approach was never built.
  • The freeway approach from US 101 and Interstate 280 to the Southern Crossing bridge was never built because the bridge was not built.
The 1960 Trafficways Plan deleted several of these routes but added another:
  • The Hunters Point Freeway would have run from US 101 south of the city limits on landfill around Candlestick Point and across Hunters Point to meet Interstate 280 near what was Army Street.
In 1959, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to cancel seven of ten planned freeways, including an extension of the Central Freeway. In 1964, protests against a freeway through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park led to its cancellation, and in 1966 the Board of Supervisors rejected an extension of the Embarcadero Freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Opposition to the Embarcadero Freeway continued, and in 1985, the Board of Supervisors voted to demolish it. It was closed after sustaining heavy damage in 1989's Loma Prieta earthquake and torn down shortly thereafter. The entire portion of the Central Freeway north of Market Street was demolished over the next decade: the top deck in 1996, and the lower deck in 2003. Two other short freeway segments were demolished in the same time period: the Terminal Separator Structure near Rincon Hill and the Embarcadero Freeway, and the stub end of Interstate 280 near Mission Bay.

Oakland

In Oakland, California, the Richmond Boulevard Freeway would have run along Valdez Street, Richmond Boulevard, Glen Echo Creek, and Moraga Avenue from 20th Street to SR 13. It was approved by Oakland voters in a 1945 bond issue, but was canceled August 16, 1956, when the city of Piedmont was unable to pay for its portion of the route. In 1949, the Richmond Boulevard Protective Association had protested the route and its planned destruction of their homes.

Berkeley

In Berkeley, California, the Ashby Freeway would have run approximately along the line of Ashby Avenue from Interstate 80 to California State Route 24. The Berkeley Department of Public Works and Planning Commission proposed possible routings for it in 1952, and were met with 5,000 signatures on a petition in opposition. Nevertheless, the commission included the route in the 1955 Berkeley Master Plan. A 1957 public hearing drew 100 protesters. The 1959 Alameda County transportation plan attempted to relocate the proposed freeway to the Oakland–Berkeley border, but Oakland was no more receptive to the freeway, and the Berkeley City Council voted to stop planning it in 1961.

Bakersfield

In Bakersfield, California, the SR 178 freeway terminates two miles east of the SR 99 freeway. The section through downtown Bakersfield and the Westchester residential district was never completed due to opposition from Westchester residents. The controversy continues to this day, as the Bakersfield City Council's plans to widen Highway 178 through the Westchester area are being strongly protested.

Los Angeles

  • The Laurel Canyon Freeway would have been aligned through western Hollywood, the Mid-City West area, and western Inglewood en route to its terminus at the San Diego Freeway near Los Angeles International Airport. It was scrapped in the face of community opposition from these districts and its namesake Laurel Canyon. Only the portion traversing the Baldwin Hills was finished, later being designated as La Cienega Boulevard.
  • The Beverly Hills Freeway would have run from the Hollywood Freeway in southern Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway in Westwood along the alignment of Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. It went through several proposed iterations—including a cut-and-cover tunnel—before its mid-1970s abandonment in the face of opposition from residents of Beverly Hills, the Fairfax District, and Hancock Park. Caltrans acquired and cleared the land needed for the freeway in the city of Beverly Hills; the right-of-way later became a long greenway.
  • The Slauson Freeway, originally known as the Richard M. Nixon Freeway and intended to run across southern Los Angeles and northern Orange counties between the Pacific Coast Highway and Riverside, was truncated as a result of opposition to its construction through South Central Los Angeles. The only portions completed to freeway level are the short Marina Freeway that runs between Marina del Rey and southern Culver City and the Richard M. Nixon Parkway in Yorba Linda.
  • The Glendale Freeway terminates roughly northeast of its intended terminus at the Hollywood Freeway, due to opposition from residents of Silver Lake.
  • The Pacific Coast Freeway would have upgraded the existing Pacific Coast Highway to freeway standards. Opposition by residents of Malibu, Santa Monica, and the coastal cities of the South Bay region led to the project's abandonment. One segment, between Oxnard and the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, was built in the 1960s before the project was abandoned.
  • The Redondo Beach Freeway would have linked the Pacific Coast Freeway in Redondo Beach or the San Diego Freeway in Torrance to the Long Beach Freeway. Opposition by Redondo Beach and Torrance led to its truncation to its current terminus at the Harbor Freeway in Gardena; the California legislature subsequently renamed it the Gardena Freeway.
  • The Century Freeway, itself the subject of an unsuccessful freeway revolt in Hawthorne, South Central Los Angeles, Lynwood, and Downey that lasted nearly two decades, was truncated at the San Gabriel River Freeway instead of its intended terminus at the Santa Ana Freeway due to opposition from the city of Norwalk. One of the compromises allowing the freeway to be built caused the inclusion of a mass transit line in the median. This is the C Line, which opened on August 12, 1995. The Glenn Anderson Freeway opened on October 15, 1993.
  • The Long Beach Freeway was initially intended to go from the port complex all the way north to Pasadena, linking up with the Ventura and Foothill Freeways, completing a bypass of Downtown Los Angeles to the east. The freeway was completed just past I-10 in Alhambra, and a half-mile stub was built in Pasadena. Opposition came from the small city of South Pasadena, which would have been cut in half, impacting its small but lively downtown. A six-mile gap currently exists, and Caltrans is still attempting to build some sort of link, the latest idea of which has been a pair of tunnels.
  • *Opposition to the building of the 710 extensions through South Pasadena has, for some 30 years, resulted in the suspension of plans to build an extension from the 210 freeway through West Pasadena and South Pasadena. The ramps exist, and a stub is in place at California Boulevard. Still, much of the land taken for the freeway has been resold by Caltrans to private parties. In 2006, the idea of completing the freeway using a tunnel was first proposed. This idea is currently under a funded study by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
  • *A proposed rehabilitation and widening of the aged Long Beach Freeway between the Pomona and San Diego freeways, which would have removed over 2000 residences in five cities and one unincorporated area, generated such opposition that Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority abandoned it within days of its unveiling in 2004. Caltrans and MTA have issued a new plan that would use MTA-owned utility right-of-way along the Los Angeles River and require the taking of fewer than ten residences.
  • The portion of the Foothill Freeway running through the Crescenta Valley was not completed until the early 1980s, largely due to opposition by the wealthy city of La Cañada Flintridge. As part of the legal settlement allowing for the freeway's construction, it was built so far below grade that two creeks crossing its alignment traverse the freeway by means of aqueducts.