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The Case for Urban Expressways

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The Case for Urban Expressways The Case for Urban Expressways Long-range planning ot adequate highway facilities will save many cities from stagnation and deeay. CommissionerBy THOMAS H. MACDONAL ofD Publicthe Nationa Road*l Interregiona l Highway in the throes of an acute housing short­ Federal Work* AgencyCommitte e to study conditions and to age; (2) depressed sections of the ex­ Public Road* Administrationsuggest a solution. pressway would be "big ditches'* which, Washington, D. C.In its report to the President in 1944, in effect, would disrupt the customary the committee recommended, among activities of the community by creating other improvements, the development a barrier between neighborhoods, and HE opposition that has developed in of an interstate highway system con­ (3) it would be less costly to widen several cities to the construction sisting of modern highways which streets which, if moderately improved, T would serve present traffic needs. The of expressways and other boldly would connect principal cities and in­ loudest objection is that express high­ planned highway improvements is not dustrial centers throughout the coun­ try, and the construction of multiple- ways cost too much. lurprising. lane, controlled-access expressways in These objections can readily be an­ Between 1890 and 1916, when early both urban and rural areas where the swered by anyone who is familiar with good-roads advocates and far-sighted volume of traffic justified this type of expressway design and has had an op­ civic leaders were campaigning to get highway. portunity to study the service value of the farmer out of the mud with gravel controlled-access highways built before utd macadam roads, they were met The Interregional Highway Commit­ the war, such as the expressways in and with apathy and inertia. Most states tee's recommendations were widely ap­ around New York, the Merritt Parkway ind communities preferred mud roads proved by state highway officials and in Connecticut, the Davison Express­ to the "luxury" of stone or gravel sur­ municipal authorities. Legislation giv­ way in Detroit, Chicago's Lake Shore faces that cost 95,000 or 16,000 per ing effect to the recommendations was Drive, and the Arroyo Seco Freeway nile. included in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1944. out of Los Angeles. From 1916 to 1925, when federal-aid Admittedly, an expressway through ind state systems were being desig­ Traffic Increases a densely populated area does involve nated and improvement begun, there However, traffic has increased much razing numerous buildings, including 'was again strong opposition. The pro­ faster than we had expected. Late in many dwellings. In most instances, p-am was loo big and too costly. There 1946, the load on our major highways routes selected for expressways, as iras no real need. In the early twenties, exceeded the records for 1941, the pre­ they approach the center of the city, i prominent economist actually assert­ vious peak year, despite the fact that pass through "blighted" sections where ed that the country could not stand approximately 1,800,000 fewer cars property values are low, and most of die drain that highways would impose were in operation. A few months after the buildings are of the type that HI its resources. the end of the war, traffic reached a should be torn down in any case, to During the early period, farmers ob- volume that had not been anticipated rid the city of its slums. lected to building roads for city auto- for at least five years. Housing First bts, and the non-owners of automo­ Traffic generally tends to avoid con­ biles in cities objected because they gestion if it is at all possible to do so. On the other hand, no matter how law no reason for being taxed for Cities that ignore this obvious fact and urgently a highway improvement may »ads for farmers. These arguments refuse to modernize their arterial routes be needed, the homes of people who mbsided as our states and their eub- will pay a heavy price in loss of busi­ have nowhere to go should not be de­ livisions eventually decided that they ness and depreciation of property stroyed. Before dwellings are razed, lould not live and prosper without im­ values in central business districts. new housing facilities should be pro­ provement of rural roads. One of the most important purposes vided for the dispossessed occupants. It seems that history is to repeat of the current highway program is to This question of housing should be itself about express highways for our unsnarl urban traffic tangles as quickly accepted as one of the major planning Sities. A number of our cities are de­ as possible by providing facilities com­ problems when a city decides that it lating an important question: "Shall mensurate with traffic requirements. needs and wants an expressway. lire build highways which will enable This purpose will he defeated if city It is not true that depressed express­ [traffic to move into and through the officials and oilier local authorities ways are "big ditches" or barriers be­ [city quickly and safely, or shall we spend years in debating whether the tween neighborhoods. Overpasses at se­ bry to get along with thing* as thoy need fur an expres-way through the lected street intersections are a salient JBt?" city warrants the nM, or whether this feature of expressway design. These thoroughfare or that thoroughfare ' The decision they reach will have a overpasses, by separating through traf­ should be developed as a conlrollcd- jfir-reaching effect upon business and fic from local cross movement ami aeecss highway. (industrial expansion during the next eliminating the need for slop-lights, jten year». Objections raised by opponents of Jend to speed up the movement of ; Traffic congestion on main rural expressway [dans are based upon the local traffic on cross-streets, and tlm^ jkighwayg and city streets was a serious contention that (1) the width of the increase the ease of communication and jpmblt-m long before the war. It had right-of-way required for an express­ business interchange between adjacent [taome *o serious, in fact, that Presi­ way necessitates raxing a large number neighborhoods. dent Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed of dwellings at a time when the city is As to the contention that rxpress- !» THE AMERICAN CITY June 1947 „Bys are too costly, and that it would commodated and does not take into to $100 higher. On the average he pays j,; cheaper to widen existing thorough- account savings in time and operation about $24 in gasoline taxes and $16 (jres, there ia much that could be said costs. Traffic studies and construction for registration. Of these payments, ^ rebuttal. costs indicate that it will be far more only $30 is assigned for highways. Nine $ idening streets in central busi- economical to build expressways for per cent of the $350 expenditure for pt-j- districts where property values large traffic volumes than to try to highway travel, or 7% of a $450 expen­ e high is expensive and usually is serve a growing traffic through street diture, is for a road surface on which jr widening or other expedients. to travel. p0t practicable. At best, this plan is pen'ly an expedient which may lessen Expressways located on routes which Payments for the vehicle and for the traffic congestion temporarily, but it skirt the business district, with proper surface on which to use it seem out of jot- not strike at the root of our provision for the distribution of traffic, proportion. An increase in the contri­ [fcruules — the traffic conflicts at street serve a dual purpose. They enable traf­ bution for highways would certainly interactions and with parking vehicles. fic bound for the central business dis­ result in reductions in expenditures for tricts to reach its destination quickly, gasoline, tires, and repairs. The great­ Traffic Counts without interference from cross traffic. er safety of divided highways, free of At the same time, traffic headed toward cross traffic, would save large losses Actual counts of traffic on express some other section of the city or a from accidents. The value of the sav­ highways and on city streets when destination beyond the city is removed ing in time of highway user and less­ being used at or near full capacity from downtown streets. This in itself ening of tension in driving is difficult jliow remarkable differences. A 12- affords a large measure of relief from to estimate, but it would certainly be foot traffic lane of an express highway traffic congestion in the business dis­ large. till accommodate 1,500 vehicles per trict. Considering these various factors and hour, and a speed of 35 miles per In several cities people are saying, the value of safe and rapid transport hour is possible. Under particularly "We simply cannot afford the cost of to business, the question for our larg­ favorable conditions as many as 2,000 executing the plans that have been er cities to consider is not can they vehicles per hour may be accommo­ drawn." Many of them cannot afford afford express highways, but how can dated. Counts have been made on a the cost of carrying out the entire plan they possibly afford to be without them. Urge number of city streets. On 35% in five or ten years or even longer. This When we plan major highway in£" of them the capacity was between 300 should not prevent them from making provements, we should think in terms ind 400 vehicles per hour of green a beginning on the only course that of roads that will serve the public ten light per 10-foot traffic lane.
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