"What If..."

[GMCGeneral]

Continuing my series on mid-20th Century America and the mass exodus from cities to the suburbs, let's play a little "what if".
What if the Levitt Corp. never developed the archetypical American Suburb (Levittown, NY)?
What if Eisenhower's plan for the US Interstate Highway System never came to pass?

Those two questions are paramount to this discussion because it is my thinking that without the suburbs, cities would have become way more overcrowded dystopian nightmares as troops were returning home after WWII. The obvious urban solution would have been to develop more housing projects like those that have historically failed after a decade, like Pruitt-Igoe for example? I would think that we would see an America without any highway system in place and more highrise tenamant buildings in place of single and two family houses. Definitely a bleak picture indeed.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Continuing my series on mid-20th Century America and the mass exodus from cities to the suburbs, let's play a little "what if".
What if the Levitt Corp. never developed the archetypical American Suburb (Levittown, NY)?
What if Eisenhower's plan for the US Interstate Highway System never came to pass?

Those two questions are paramount to this discussion because it is my thinking that without the suburbs, cities would have become way more overcrowded dystopian nightmares as troops were returning home after WWII. The obvious urban solution would have been to develop more housing projects like those that have historically failed after a decade, like Pruitt-Igoe for example? I would think that we would see an America without any highway system in place and more highrise tenamant buildings in place of single and two family houses. Definitely a bleak picture indeed.

As someone who grew up when the interstate system was not fully completed, I hate to imagine todays world without these highways. Interstate 65 was not fully completed between Louisville and Nashville in the 1960s and we had to travel backroads for half the trip to my grandparents' homes along the way. I was amazed to learn Interstate 20 between Birmingham and Atlanta was not completed until the early 80s when I was in college.

 

[GMCGeneral]

As someone who grew up when the interstate system was not fully completed, I hate to imagine todays world without these highways. Interstate 65 was not fully completed between Louisville and Nashville in the 1960s and we had to travel backroads for half the trip to my grandparents' homes along the way. I was amazed to learn Interstate 20 between Birmingham and Atlanta was not completed until the early 80s when I was in college.

Right now, there's a push to remove a portion of NY33 also known as the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo, NY between Downtown and Fillmore Ave. I too, grew up and knew nothing of Humboldt Parkway nor a city without urban highways. So removing any of these would cause major disruption.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Right now, there's a push to remove a portion of NY33 also known as the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo, NY between Downtown and Fillmore Ave. I too, grew up and knew nothing of Humboldt Parkway nor a city without urban highways. So removing any of these would cause major disruption.

In my experience they are adding more interstates every year. I-165 runs from Bowling Green to Owensboro just north of here. It opened in 2019, and our former Pennyrile Parkway has been upgraded to I-169 about a year ago.

 

[GMCGeneral]

In my experience they are adding more interstates every year. I-165 runs from Bowling Green to Owensboro just north of here. It opened in 2019, and our former Pennyrile Parkway has been upgraded to I-169 about a year ago.

The advocates claim the arterials could support the east-west rush hour traffic. However, several things here. Regardless of fancy gadgets to synchronize traffic signals, at grade intersections are the site of more accidents than highways are, plus, those same arterials all run through the worst parts of Buffalo and I am quite sure anyone with a modicum of common sense would not want to drive every day along those streets.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

The advocates claim the arterials could support the east-west rush hour traffic. However, several things here. Regardless of fancy gadgets to synchronize traffic signals, at grade intersections are the site of more accidents than highways are, plus, those same arterials all run through the worst parts of Buffalo and I am quite sure anyone with a modicum of common sense would not want to drive every day along those streets.

We have I-24 east of town that does nothing to help traffic in the city because you have to drive so far to get there. We are also constrained by rivers and their associated bridges. We have two major N-S roadways and two E-W roadways that are all many miles apart. The city is limited by the Cumberland River on the west and Fort Campbell to the northwest to the state line. The area east of I-24 is almost all industrial. Many people live here and work 40-60 miles down I-24 in Nashville. My daughter works in Franklin, Tennessee down I-65 from Nashville, so her daily commute is a horror. Fortunately, she has a hybrid schedule and works from home two days each week. The I-169 hits I-24 just over the state line in KY, so I use it to access highways up into the area of Kentucky where my other daughter lives, about 150 miles away. Traffic here is usually a nightmare and the sad thing is Mother Nature is mostly to blame because you can't get there from here easily.