Just 16 miles of intra-urban highways through disproportionately Black neighborhoods Washington DC and Atlanta, Georgia, cost homeowners there more than $2 billion in lost home values, and cost the cities $14 billion in lost tax revenue, a new report from Smart Growth America reveals. The financial and cultural costs of those five miles of highways I-395 and I-695 in Southwest and Southeast DC, and 11 miles of I-20 in Atlanta are emblematic of the nationwide racist construction of interstates through communities of color — projects that upended those communities when built and which continue to bring pollution from cars driven by white suburbanites into those communities.
“The economic benefits that the transportation community gives for building these roadways and expanding them are more theoretical about saving time, but what was damaged was quite concrete,” Beth Osborne, of Smart Growth America, told Bloomberg. “More suburban white commuters gained time with theoretical monetary benefit, and often Black and brown families lost generational wealth in order to accommodate that.” (Bloomberg $)