How Inner City Highways Bankrupt Downtowns And How We Rebuild

When planner Patrick Kennedy started asking why prime land near downtown Dallas was filled with parking lots and boarded‑up buildings, the trail led straight to an elevated freeway: I‑345. He explains how making a hard economic case for removal—showing that taking the highway out could deliver the highest return on investment with minimal traffic impacts—grew into the Atlas of Inner City Highway Impacts, a data‑driven look at 142 U.S. cities. Kennedy details how inner‑city highways consume acres of valuable land, depress nearby property values, and either clog up all day in thriving metros or cut through struggling ones at full speed, while federal funding formulas and induced demand keep pushing us toward more lanes. Additional Show Notes Patrick Kennedy (LinkedIn) The Human Ecosystem (Site) Atlas of Inner-City Highway Impacts (PDF) " Adding Up What Urban Highways Really Cost ", by Benjamin Schneider (Article) Chuck Marohn (Substack) This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Thank you! Join fellow members discussing this episode in The Commons.

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How Inner City Highways Bankrupt Downtowns And How We Rebuild is an episode from The Strong Towns Podcast by Strong Towns.

This episode is 58:38 long.

This episode was published on Apr 27, 2026.

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