Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Highway Expansion

Denver Auditor Blasts Plan to Widen I-70: “Ten Lanes Is Not an Option”

By Tanya Snyder | Apr 7, 2014 | 5 Comments

“Ten lanes is not an option. A doubling of the current width of I-70 through Denver is not acceptable.” That’s how Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher began a letter [JPG and JPG] last week to the director of the Colorado DOT. “I can’t tell you how incensed I am that the state wants to expand I-70 to […]

State DOTs Let Roads Fall Apart While Splurging on Highway Expansion

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 12, 2014 | 8 Comments

Even though 33 percent of its roads are in “poor” condition, West Virginia spends about 73 percent of its road budget building new roads and adding lanes. Mississippi spends 97 percent of its road money on expansion. Texas, 82 percent. Smart Growth America reports that the 50 states and the District of Columbia, combined, devote 55 […]

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

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 21, 2014 | 4 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 […]

Detroit Advocates Challenge Michigan DOT’s Highway Expansion Plans

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 5, 2013 | 1 Comment

Perhaps you’ve read recently about the city of Detroit’s financial woes. The pensions of public employees are on the chopping block and Detroit may have to sell masterpieces from its art museum as it negotiates bankruptcy proceedings. But the transportation agencies that have saddled Detroit with a sprawling and expensive road system certainly aren’t scrimping. They […]

TIFIA-Backed, Privately-Operated Texas Toll Road Flirts With Default

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 23, 2013 | 8 Comments

It’s been nothing but headaches for Texas State Highway 130. The road — or rather, SH 130 Concession Company LLC, which operates the road — got a credit downgrade to junk bond status in April, and now it’s been deemed even junkier with another downgrade from Moody’s last week. Traffic projections for the road failed […]

Chicago Transit Agencies Vote for a Tollway Even the Road Lobby Hates

By Steven Vance | Oct 8, 2013 | No Comments

Chicago-area transportation organizations are poised to shoot themselves in the foot and harm the region by allowing the Illinois Department of Transportation Department to squander limited transportation infrastructure funds on the $2.75 billion Illiana Tollway. On Friday the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s transportation committee voted to recommend moving forward with this wasteful, destructive project, […]

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