Highways to Boulevards

In the 20th Century, the American era of highway-building created sprawling freeways that cut huge swaths through our cities. Too often vibrant, diverse, and functioning neighborhoods were destroyed or isolated by their construction, devastating communities and economies alike. Today, many of these urban freeways are reaching the end of their lifespans—and their continuing purpose and worth is being called into question.

The Highways to Boulevards movement offers a path forward for communities to repair, rebuild, and reknit. It seeks to replace aging highways that damage communities with assets like city streets, housing, and green space. These streets become places for the people who live around them, with local businesses and places for public interaction, as well as better integration with a city’s transit systems. Highways to Boulevards conversions increase access to jobs and services and allow for the creation of neighborhood-driven, well-functioning urban space. To date, over 18 American cities have either removed, covered, or committed to transform urban highway corridors.

As end-stage urban freeways and their adjacent corridors present opportunities to transform broken liabilities into assets, elected officials and citizens alike can be advocates for transformations that support socially and economically valuable places.

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