When the I5 freeway rammed its way through North and Northeast Portland in the 1960s it devastated once thriving historically black neighborhoods, demolishing over 300 homes, destroying locally owned businesses and displacing hundreds of people. For most of the last century this pattern of freeways tearing apart communities of color has been repeated across the country, emblematic of the institutional racism that has defined social and economic policy for centuries.
On this episode of Locus Focus, we talk with Metro President Lynn Peterson, whose new book, Roadways for People: Rethinking Transportation, Planning and Engineering, tells the history of these past abuses committed in the name of transportation expediency. We’ll explore how to implement a new approach to transportation planning that is guided by racial equity and genuine community engagement, and seeks to address the specific needs of communities that endured the abuses of past practices.
- KBOO