Work In Progress - Interstate Highway at 70

This is a work-in-progress. This project will explore the impact of the Interstate Highway System on American cities in anticipation of the 70th anniversary of the roadway in 2026. It is an extension of a project I executed in St. Louis in 2016 that also appears as a portfolio on this website. The original project was profiled by the Huffington Post and other media outlets. Here is a link: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/photo-series-st-louis-freeways_us_57c09eb8e4b04193420f22fd The Interstate Highway System is the largest public works project in the United States. While this portfolio includes general interest and scenic shots of the road and roadside attractions, I am not sure what form the final project will take.

Kansas City, KS, I-670, I-70, looking toward KC from 7th St.

West Bottoms, I-70, Kansas City, MO 12-25-18

TULSA, OK, Greenwood Historic District, I-244, 2018

TULSA, OK, Downtown, I-244, 2018

DALLAS, TX, Deep Ellum Neighborhood, I-45, 2018

Des Moines, IA, State Capitol, 1884, I-235, 2018

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Basilica of St. Mary, erected 1914, I-94, 2018

KANSAS CITY, MO - Reverend Wesley Williams statue, I-70, 2018

KANSAS CITY, MO, Daycare playground, I-70, 2018

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL, I-64, 2018

The quote below is from NEXTSTL.COM, 4-27-2012 "The Interstate's Impact on East St. Louis", by Michael Brickey -

"The inability of East St. Louis to affect the bridge placement decision showed its political weakness in the region and revealed the insignificance of East St. Louis to bi-state metropolitan planning. Perhaps the most significant effect of the interstate was simply its lasting permanence on the East St. Louis landscape. The network of elevated roadways and the complex system of interchanges became, in the words of contemporary planning analyst Robert Mendelson, a “writhing, spaghetti-shaped interstate highway system…a high-speed raceway through desirable riverfront property and through the city as a whole.” From the surface level, the complicated tangle of roadways and the hundreds of concrete pillars that support them fractured the city and prevented access to the riverfront."

Popular St. Bridge ramps viewed from Trendley Ave, East St. Louis, IL

Poplar St. Bridge ramps viewed from Trendley Ave., East St. Louis, IL

Abandoned theater on Collinsville Ave. in East St. Louis IL framed by Poplar St. Bridge access ramp

Theater, Collinsville Ave., East St. Louis,, IL -detail from previous photo

Chicago, I-290, I-90/94 Interchange, 2018

According to an article at https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/eisenhower/, Chicago's history of transformative superhighway construction predates the arrival of the interstate highway system by decades. The current I-290 follows the 1949 westward extension of Congress Street from downtown through the city's Near West Side. The construction of the road that would be dubbed the Eisenhower Expressway displaced an estimated 13,000 residents.