Highway Expansion
Streetsblog Basics
OPINION: Stop Phil Murphy’s Brazen Turnpike Widening Trap
Gov. Murphy's plans to widen the turnpike will cost billions, clog streets and pollute the air — yet the state claims the project will have "no significant impact." The federal government should reject the plan outright.
May 31, 2024
Boondoggle: Why is ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Money Being Used for Highway Widening?
The US Department of Transportation just awarded $450 million to the $1.9-billion Rose Quarter 1-5 project, which opponents have long called one of America’s most-notorious highway boondoggles.
April 8, 2024
The Biggest Wins — And Disappointments — From the ‘Reconnecting Communities’ Grants
"Until we overhaul our transportation system to redirect the majority of funding into community-oriented infrastructure investments, we will keep failing to meet our equity, climate, and maintenance goals."
Ben Crowther
March 27, 2024
‘Stop the Highway-Expansion Madness,’ New Coalition Demands
"Endless highway expansions are pulling our country into an environmental, budgetary, and public health crisis," the letter states.
February 7, 2024
Highway Boondoggles 2023: Salt Lake Shenanigans
Plans for a major freeway expansion based on over-inflated traffic projections are a wrongheaded way to deal with the region’s rapid population growth.
December 3, 2023
Highway Boondoggles 2023: The Pain in Maine Falls Mainly in … Gorham
Here's a self-defeating new highway that will merely exacerbate suburban sprawl — reinforcing the very conditions that are causing the traffic problems in the first place!
November 27, 2023
Highway Boondoggles 2023: A Cape Cod Canard
It's not just the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges that's the problem — it's all the other highways that will turn Cape Cod into a parking lot.
November 15, 2023
Highway Boondoggles 2023: This Year’s Poster Children for Bad Projects
Once again, transportation funds that could be used to repair streets, roads and bridges are instead diverted into costly, damaging highway expansion projects. Here's this year's list of the worst of the worst.
November 10, 2023
Garden Potty: NJ Reveals That Its Turnpike Widening Will Add Hundreds MORE Cars to Canal Street Sewer
And they're suing us to stop congestion pricing?! New Jersey's $11-billion Turnpike widening will dump hundreds more cars onto Canal Street via the Holland Tunnel, which is an outrage.
November 7, 2023
Why Democrats and Republicans Alike Keep Expanding Highways
It’s not too late for their state to chart a better path forward — but politics gets in the way.
September 14, 2023