Freeway builders had their sights set on building freeways along Lady Bird Lake in Austin, through Georgetown in Washington, along the beach in Santa Monica, through the French Quarter in New Orleans, and bisecting Cambridge between Harvard and MIT.

They would’ve had their way, too, if not for the meddling protesters who foiled their schemes.

Grassroots activists who were steeped in their communities highlighted the street-level impacts of freeways that builders and politicians refused to see

In 1971 a lawsuit against a freeway that would cut through Memphis resulted in a Supreme Court decision that gave courts a wide latitude to review administrative actions, setting the stage for more successful legal challenges against freeways.

Other places that were saved were Beverly Hills, Brookline, Haight-Ashbury, Greenwich Village, Baltimore

In low-income urban neighborhoods unable to halt the freeway, properties that could have become nest eggs for generations were razed when they were worth pennies on the dollar of their current value. 

In Washington DC, the construction of I-695 and I-395 resulted in the loss of nearly half a million dollars in home equity for each of the 1,400 homes that were destroyed. 

In St. Paul, the home equity lost to the construction of I-94 resulted in a $160 million loss in value by 2018. 

In Portland’s Lower Albina district, the construction of I-5 and other urban renewal projects wiped out an estimated $1.4 billion in home equity. 

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/06/book-excerpt-special-the-incomplete-freeway-revolt