It’s time to start removing highways. For real this time
Joe Harrington argues that it’s time to remove [[highways]] in American cities, noting successful examples like [[Rochester, New York]] and the broad health, environmental, economic, and mobility harms highways have inflicted for decades. He critiques federal and state responses — from an omission of removal in the [[U.S. Department of Transportation]] report to many states’ entrenched engineering mindsets — and details how [[MnDOT]] uses flawed traffic modeling, narrow evaluation metrics, and weak public engagement to block transformative options. Programs like the [[Reconnecting Communities Grant Program]] have helped but often fund half-measures, while funding frameworks such as the [[Bipartisan Infrastructure Law]] still prioritize highway projects. Harrington calls for federal toolkits, funding reform, DOT procedural change, and philanthropic support to enable equitable highway removals and reconnect neighborhoods.