How to Fight Harmful Road Projects in Your Community
Image via WikiCommons.
How often do we hear our elected officials tell us that a new highway or expanded road will solve all our congestion problems and even induce economic development? In almost every city across the United States, this is the common narrative. Unfortunately, it’s completely wrong. Wider roads and highways through our cities waste billions in taxpayer dollars and actually destroy far more economic potential than they create. They also add enormous maintenance liabilities to our already-strained municipal budgets.
At Strong Towns, we take the radical yet necessary position of “no new roads,” and we want to help you to stand against costly, harmful road projects in your community. That’s why, today, we’re sharing recordings from a couple recent Strong Towns webcasts, featuring the voices of advocates in two cities who are fighting highway expansion projects—and they mean to win.
First, listen to local leaders and activists discuss a misguided highway project in Shreveport, Louisiana—one that threatens to destroy a blossoming neighborhood and cost the community millions.
Next, check out a conversation with planners and neighborhood leaders in Austin, Texas, who are proposing a people-centered alternative to a massive highway expansion through their downtown.
Both webcasts offer lessons, reality checks, and hope for anyone who wants to see their city stop building new roads and start building stronger towns.
If you’re interested in learning more about the costs of our broken transportation system, then you need to check out our upcoming book, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town, coming out next week, September 8. This is a book that’s written to empower regular citizens and professionals alike, who want to take concrete steps toward building a transportation system that makes us, our families, and our communities safer and more prosperous.