Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about highway expansion

Milwaukee Protesters Try to Halt Double-Decker Freeway

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 18, 2014 | No Comments

Monday night, as the Wisconsin DOT went through the motions of a Power Point presentation about the latest highway expansion it wants to gouge through Milwaukee, a groups of protesters outside the meeting shouted their frustration with an agency that has spent lavishly on roads to the exclusion of all other modes. The protesters’ message […]

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The Whole City of Florence Could Fit Inside an Atlanta Interchange

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 13, 2014 | No Comments

It’s incredible how much we’ve given up in the United States all so we can travel slightly faster by car. The above graphic, revived by Lloyd Alter at Network blog Treehugger this week from an old blog post by author Steve Mouzon, really makes you stop and think. On the left is Florence, Italy — a global treasure. On the […]

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Study: Corrupt States Spend More on Highways

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 6, 2014 | No Comments

A new academic study helps explain the enduring political popularity of expensive transportation boondoggles like Birmingham’s $4.7 billion Northern Beltline and Kentucky’s $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges. According to research published in the journal Public Administration Review, states with higher levels of public corruption spend more money on highways and construction. The study found highway […]

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Traffic Plummets on the Highway Seattle Is Spending a Fortune to Replace

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 21, 2014 | No Comments

For months now, the largest tunnel boring machine in the United States has been broken down under the city of Seattle. Meanwhile, traffic on the highway that the tunnel is supposed to replace has plummeted, raising more questions about whether the project is worth the enormous expense. The state of Washington intends to spend $3.1 […]

IDOT Prepares to Ram Through Another Expensive Highway Project

By Steven Vance | Aug 20, 2013 | 53 Comments

The Illinois Department of Transportation is again seeking the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s help to build an expensive highway expansion that isn’t included in the region’s planning blueprint. This time, it’s not about a putting a flyover above Halsted Street and a wall in front of people’s homes, like the agency plans to do […]

IDOT’s $400 Million Circle Interchange Expansion Won’t Fix Congestion

By Steven Vance | Feb 15, 2013 | 68 Comments

An expensive new interchange expansion that the Illinois Department of Transportation is pushing for downtown threatens to dump more traffic on Chicago streets, but the project still needs approval from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to move forward. While IDOT is simultaneously proposing some improvements for biking and walking in the area, all of […]