It is no secret that grade-separated highways can cause a lot of harm in cities. They exacerbate air pollution, divide neighborhoods, and increase the risk of road injuries and deaths. The closer people live to large highways and roads, the more susceptible they are to these hazards and, oftentimes, these are already low-income or marginalized populations. Urban highways are the ultimate manifestation of a history of development that has prioritized the movement of cars above all other environmental and social factors. The United States is perhaps the primary model for this history, and has contributed to spreading this same trend worldwide.
The post In What Cities are People Safest from Highways, and Why Does It Matter? first appeared on Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.
