Downtown Frankenstein: Robert Moses and Haydon Burns

[Fallen Buckeye]

In that case it wouldn't really be assuming then. 

while hindsight is 20-20, many people planning the interstate highway system thought they were ensurig the viability of urban areas and downtowns by constructing expressways that directly served them.

I think you're right that we can't always assume bad intentions. Some of these people may have believed in their hearts that they were doing the right thing for their communities. There is really no way we can know for sure what's in a man's heart. It's all supposition.

except when they leave behind documents, explanations and the anecdotes of their friends, family and allies.

[finehoe]

Another stated purpose of the Interstate Highway System was to provide an escape route out of the cities in the event of a nuclear war.

The Reduction of Urban Vulnerability: Revisiting 1950s American Suburbanization as Civil Defence by Kathleen A Tobin, Purdue University, Cold War History, Vol.2, No.2, January,2002:

This is an unrecognized if not forgotten history of the roots of sprawl in the U.S. as a defensive measure. The outcome of the defense was similar to that of the attack it was meant to survive - a cratering of the cities.

Although incorporation of the automobile into city design began early in the century, it has been since the 1950’s that American housing, retail and employment sites â€" the business campus, have been designed for the automobile. Distances are unwalkable and very often there are no sidewalks to connect buildings.

There are very few cities where owning an automobile is optional. Jurisdictions are cities in name and legal structure only. New urbanism is simply an attempt to accommodate the car.

There are many reasons for this. The physical landscape looks densely built, but household size is low, auto use is high, and effective densities continue to drop.

Stewart Brand has some positive things to say about cities. Few Americans do. They fear density, but do not understand that was built into the cake of the 1950’s Cold War.

[stjr]

Boston fought Interstate 95, and Boston won!

Boston may have escaped I-95, but it sure got a makeover with interstates 90 and 93. 

I think Washington DC probably is the largest city that mostly escaped the interstates.  I-95 circumvents it using the Beltway leaving only one dogleg (I-395) and and one skirmish (I-295).  Ironic, that Washington, birthplace of the interstate legislation, would itself mostly avoid the device.

As to Jax, while I-95 may have served as a racial divide, I believe we are mildly fortunate that it doesn't disrupt our urban fabric more, especially the core of downtown.  The loop to the west of town approaching the Fuller Warren, aside from the consequences mentioned, may have been, relatively speaking, the least intrusive route once the decision was made that it was going to pass to the western edge of downtown.  I think interstates in the downtowns of Richmond, Charlotte, and Tampa are much more "in your face" than here.  Then, you have cities like Philadelphia and Boston where big chunks of waterfront were eaten alive by interstates.  What those cities wouldn't give, I imagine, to undo that debacle.

[ricker]

I wish I could find more info on the old proposed but later shelved River Oaks Freeway through Boone Park?
I've wondered for years where that might've gone/what it would've connected?

[ricker]

Also -to the info elephants- how much of Roosevelt Blvd was originally intended to be elevated?
I heard -from the son of a cocacola bottler- that it planned to mimick SanMarco's expanse of 17.
I'm guessing such a design would not have so thoroughly isolated other walking lifeforms from precious Avondale and thusly were not adopted?
If I'm wrong, please know that I am officially begging to be corrected.

[billy]

Robert Caro biography of Robert Moses is a good reference, great book.

[JFman00]

I feel this discussion is incomplete without discussion of Daniel Burnham, of the Burnham plan of Chicago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnham_Plan

His work directly resulted in both Chicago's 25 miles of pristine, lakefront, urban green areas, and the surprisingly iconic Wacker Drive (underground/above ground scenes from the Dark Knight).

His ideas are still salient today.
http://burnhamplan100.lib.uchicago.edu/

[BackinJax05]

Sad, but true. The 20th Street Expressway killed my grandparents' neighborhood. They lived on Liberty Circle, a few blocks north of the expressway and the intersection of 21st & Liberty Streets. It was once a nice area. Then the expressway cut the neighborhood in half & destroyed it.

[nomeus]

very top image is cropped too much just fyi

[sheclown]

fantastic article

[Garden guy]

Planners are powerful but doesnt council approve before action?

[Ocklawaha]

But the motivation was certainly not to help the downtowns.

It was to connect ever expanding cities one to another.  The interstates were originally built to serve military and commercial needs, primarily military.  Eisenhower learned a valuable lesson about troop movements over insufficient roads in Europe during ww2.

In fact the curves and grades of the highways were originally designed to accommodate tank movements (i think at top speeds of 90mph), not really cars.

This is the same transportation trap that we see our national passenger rail system in, it's what I call "End Point Thinking." Amtrak like the interstates was given a list of imagined 'end point cities' then told to connect them. The trouble with this line of thought is that EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN IS JUST INCIDENTAL TO THE HIGHLY VALUED 'END POINTS.' As a result we have a passenger rail system that might connect Jacksonville with Miami, but it ignores two other prime routes. Why? Because all that matters in this line of thought is New York City and Miami.

The crazies that came up with this are also huge proponents of 'Non-Stop Travel'. Think what the phrase 'non stop' means to Ocala? Daytona Beach? St. Augustine? or Gainesville? The airlines once flew multi-stop routes, a trip from Jacksonville to Los Angeles on National Airlines might have involved stops in New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix. We now see the parasite motor carriers using this same science to completely gut what remains of our once extensive intercity bus network. When I became a Transportation Supervisor with Tamiami Trailway's we operated 43 runs in and out of Jacksonville. Our routes included the US Highway system, US 1 to St. Augustine, and the Florida-Georgia Parkway between Jacksonville and Birmingham. Because of the pressure to abandon the smaller towns or lose the cream of the business to unregulated parasites. These companies specialize in running from Jacksonville to Atlanta NON-STOP, or Miami, or Orlando etc. When I left Trailway's we were down to 14 schedules daily, all in the course of about 3 years.

What was once called 'Flyover Country' by the airlines, could just as easily become 'Bypass Country' on an interstate or rail line. The inability of Americans to get to specific destinations all across the land is becoming more and more limited at a time when gasoline prices are skyrocketing.

For the record Stephen, the fastest tank is our M1-J10 Main Battle Tank which peaks out 67.7 mph while the Chinese version of the 'worlds fastest tank' The Type 99, can reach speeds of 49.7 mph or 80 kph.

As for the dividends of this madness, when Amtrak was formed the US had over 8,000 passenger rail cars, today there are about 1,500.  The result is we can't serve those other points unless we cut train lengths to 3-4 cars each.

OCK

[Garden guy]

So our population is a bunch of sheep led by a fancy talkin city boy? It just seems we all voted people who are willing and ready to fuck our city to council. Why aren't we seeing more modern thinking non-goodole boy people running for council? Are we really stuck with what we've got...same type of people year after year?

[Gravity]

Didn't the federal government also assist with this type of planning by levying tax on extra rail lines or something similar to discourage the railcar systems?

Maybe it was the state. Seems like more than just a few good old boys in this conspiracy.

[Dashing Dan]

From 1962 to 1991, for all urban areas with a population of 50,000 or more, the federal government required that long range transportation plans be developed that would eliminate congestion within a 20 - 25 year period.  For Jacksonville, that plan included major freeway projects that nobody thought would ever be built, either because they were either too expensive or too disruptive.

Unfortunately, one or two of those projects did get built, either wholly or in part.