Downtown Frankenstein: Robert Moses and Haydon Burns

[billy]

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by Robert A. Caro
(if mentioned already,my apologies)
should be on the MJ required reading list

[north miami]

Fascinating as usual.

Question for everyone - what do you think would have been the best possible route for 95 through Jacksonville from an urban planning perspective?

Hind sight always clearer than fore sight,which is why planning 'vision' horizons spanning many years are not appropriate.(State growth management planning rules recognize such,with qualifications)

Most of us would today envision a different route for 95 through jacksonville and everywhere else.

[Vtlsgns]

As is the norm, excellent article. Thanks Stephen.
Yet another prime example for the current "leaders" of Jacksonville to remember. Of course they won't though. Here's hoping!

[stjr]

Great article.  The mass of yellow showing the buildings destroyed combined with the destruction of the City's neighborhoods by the expressways still haunts us today and will likely do so for untold years to come.  It just shows the importance to putting thought, sensitivity, vision, and creativity into public works projects as their impacts typically last far beyond private sector investments.

Poor decisions over placement and construction of the Skyway, Courthouse, public parking garages, new roads and bridges, Amtrak station, intermodal center, etc. all combine to further dampen the future of our city.

Like so many, I keep looking for a defining moment where we turn the corner.  Watching the City Council squander city tax dollars and time over public prayer issues or the appointment of a Muslim to a little known city commission  while "Jax self-destructs" and JTA making a wrong turn at nearly every corner of its decision making just leaves me still waiting.....

[kells904]

I'm sick of waiting.

[Jaxson]

Boston fought Interstate 95, and Boston won!

[spuwho]

I wasn't around when the sins of our city fathers occurred, but I can offer some feedback.

- Jacksonville wasn't the only city to "suffer" from the massive highway spending of the 60's. The original IHS plan was not to make urban centers more accessible to the auto (believe it or not).  The original plan was to only use the IHS to connect the periphery of urban centers and have buses, interurban, rail and other forms provide the needed urban mobility.

Unfortunately, when our federal govt. announces a major spending program, it never seems to operate as planned, as it gets amended by the influence of insiders, politicians, power brokers and contractors.

Eisenhower was aghast once when visiting a city to see rows and rows of homes being torn down, disrupting neighborhoods. When he asked why so much was being demolished, he was told that they were building a new "super highway" as he had pushed through Congress. He was so upset he went back and tried to have the HTF changed so that urban disruption was not possible, but it was too late. At the end of his term, with little political capital, and Congress already releasing the funds through the FHA, the deed was done.

The stories of many urban centers being disrupted by the greed of highway money (ie: jobs, kickbacks, bribes, tax revenue) is lengthy and won't be repeated here.

As I read the history of Jax, I also read that many of the core buildings in downtown and LaVilla were at a level of condemnation or were becoming huge eyesores and safety hazards. The disinvestment in the Jax urban core was not driven by race ( as I read it) but by the shifting business patterns nationally.  Jacksonville was losing, and losing fast. The post WWII era was not favorable in Duval County and there was no way the city fathers could stop it unless they embraced the current trends, which at the time included lots of highways and urban renewal.

Now I don't agree with any urban plan that separates any race, so being this is the first time I have seen any evidence of the concept merits a new perspective when reading on local history.

While we can't erase these past sins entirely, we can look to our future with a healthy perspective and one of accountability to all involved. Lets take our history (good or bad) and use it in such a way that brings long term benefit to all without all of the baggage.

[thelakelander]

^I believe Jax's expressway system was constructed before the Interstate Highway System.  While what happened in Jax was not unique for that era, many of the selected corridors did effectively take out and separate neighborhoods along racial lines at the time.  So while not the only factors at the time, racial/social issues definitely played a role in the planning decisions made during this era.

[Timkin]

I 95 should have been configured around the city, instead of cutting right through it. Jacksonville will never recover what was lost through the choices made to cut two Interstate Highways ...

[Timkin]

hardly.  They were Thriving Neighborhoods most likely. The expressway killed them

[tufsu1]

Boston fought Interstate 95, and Boston won!

well the north shore was separated from the downtown for decades....and only after spending $1.5+ Billion to bury 2-3 miles of road in tunnels are they able to "potentially" join these areas back together.

[tufsu1]

I 95 should have been configured around the city, instead of cutting right through it. Jacksonville will never recover what was lost through the choices made to cut two Interstate Highways ...

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.

[BridgeTroll]

In addition cities and smaller towns fought tooth and nail to be included in the "system".  They feared being cut off from the commerce the Interstates would bring.  The famous "Route 66" is a good example.  When the Interstate system bypassed those towns they "withered on the vine".

[Wacca Pilatka]

^I believe Jax's expressway system was constructed before the Interstate Highway System. 

Yes, that's correct.  Same as in other cities such as Richmond.  The local superhighway systems were then integrated into the interstate system.

[Fallen Buckeye]

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.