In the middle decades of the 20th century, carving limited-access highways through the middle of neighborhoods and city districts was considered the unavoidable price of progress toward the all-important goal of increasing traffic flow. These highways continue to blight and divide neighborhoods, many of which were and still are low-income communities of color, limiting access to open spaces and negatively affecting public health. State departments of transportation should prioritize improving highway segments that cause the most harm to neighborhood health, prosperity, and cohesion, and work with communities and municipalities to remove or transform them into community assets.
