Traffic on Interstate 35 in Austin, Texas.
Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images North AmericaWhen the US Department of Transportation launched the Reconnecting Communities program in 2021, it represented a landmark for the scholars and community advocates who have long sounded the alarm about the social and environmental costs of urban freeways.
The signature Biden administration initiative provided $4 billion in grant funding to “reconnect communities harmed by past transportation infrastructure decisions” — an acknowledgement of the racist planning practices that routed highways through low-income and predominantly Black neighborhoods in scores of US cities.