Quote:
Originally Posted by RCDC
Baltimore of course had freeway construction and demolition of historic stock, but like most of the NE cities it didn't suffer the kind of wholesale, careless destruction that I'm seeing here. It's almost like they set out to vandalize as much as possible. The freeways just barreled through without much regard for the existing grid, with greedy interchanges gobbling up way more blocks than needed, right at the cores. Really sad and a bit infuriating...
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I'm sure this is similar across much of the urban midwest, but the political case to construct Detroit's freeways was made by selling it as "slum clearing." The construction of freeways into downtown Detroit destroyed both the city's traditional Chinatown and its most prominent black neighborhood (Black Bottom/Paradise Valley), both of which were viewed by the majority as being slums. Detroit lost a ton of architecture in just those two areas alone that would probably be historical landmarks if it had survived demolition for freeways.
Similar arguments were being used to sell freeways around the country, but for whatever reason they were just more successful in the urban midwest. Most of us are probably familiar with Jane Jacobs' legacy of saving Manhattan's West Village from death by preventing construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway.
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