Highways to Nowhere: The 7 Most Ridiculous New Roads Being Built With Stimulus Money

Yonah Freemark writes about transportation issues for Infrastructurist.com

Last week, the president and vice president warned the 50 governors not to spend stimulus money on construction projects that are ill-advised and wasteful. With nearly $30 billion in highway funds in the bill, road building is a prime suspect for waste. Bad roads create sprawl and major environmental damage. We searched through shovel ready projects funded with stimulus money and found seven projects that should go back to the drawing board immediately. (See full article here.)

7. I-295 Loop in Fayetteville, NC - An 8-mile stretch of this freeway is slated to get $63 million for a construction start within the next few months. But it runs through rural land and is a recipe for the worst kind of sprawl. Meanwhile it would deprive the city center of economically valuable military traffic from Fort Bragg. So why are they doing it? Two of the key officials making the state funding list are from Fayetteville.

6. I-69 extension in Indiana - This 142 mile-long highway would cost an estimated $3.5 billion to build. Its effect on the sections south of Bloomington, where it will be built on "new terrain," would be devastating to rural life in the area, with 400 families affected by the route's construction and 2,800 acres of farmland paved over. More than 1,000 acres of forests would be cut down. There's a better alternative that would cost just half as much.

5. Widening I-93 in southern New Hampshire - The plan to expand this overcrowded road from four lanes today to eight along a 20-mile stretch between Salem and Manchester would cost of $750 million. But it ignores what is common knowledge among transportation experts: building more lanes simply creates more traffic. A better alternative: a parallel existing rail line, neglected for years, would offer the area's commuters a direct shot to downtown Boston.

4. I-66 in Kentucky - This $10 billion project is a disaster. The 420-mile route lies directly between I-64 and I-40, which are only three hours apart. In this rural area, a freeway simply isn't necessary as there is little traffic on existing roads. And since neighboring states have abandoned work on connecting segments, meaning that the highway would effectively dead-end into local roads at both ends. But the the most dire effects would be on the environment: The road would tear through the Appalachians and the Daniel Boone National Forest.

3. Grand Parkway in Houston, Texas - At 184 miles in length and a projected cost of $5.1 billion, Houston's fourth outer loop a world-class boondoggle. A 14-mile stretch of the corridor, funded by $181 million of stimulus money, would destroy some local prairie and parkland. The nonprofit group that is pushing the road, is made up major land developers, who see a profitable new frontier for exurban sprawl.

2. Intercounty Connector in the DC suburbs of Maryland - Former governor Parris Glendening thought this highway project would be an environmental disaster. But the 18 mile, $3 billion road seems to be going ahead, to the detriment of Maryland's ability to fund other transportation projects, like a much-needed new light rail lines in Baltimore. Worst of all, the highway won't even be much of a help in clearing the traffic on Washington's infamously congested Beltway--its net effect would be to increase the number of miles traveled by Marylanders in their cars.

1. I-65 Downtown Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky - This $4.1 billion project would create a 24-lane monstrosity along downtown Louisville's waterfront, eparating the city center from the Ohio river and cutting into a brand new park. Approximately 100 residential properties and 30 businesses would be taken for the project, and the enormous, ugly interchange of the three roads would loom above downtown. A much simpler and cheaper plan would open up the downtown waterfront and allow the for the construction of an attractive boulevard like San Francisco's Embarcadero.

Comments

[chrisbee13]

As someone who has driven the section of 93 in NH where it's only 2 lines on either side... you won't be able to convince me that more lanes is bad.

I see what you mean about maybe putting a train, and the whole "it just makes more traffic" argument is all swell and everthing, but it doesn't change the fact that 2 lanes are not enough. I've never driven that road during rush hour, but it's bad in the middle of the day!

[ILibertine]

Although the matters will evidently be settled by the respective state interests, it certainly seems folly to build many more new highways in areas where population would support light rail alternatives. It's also ridiculous to spend for new roads, rather than repairing existing ones, bridges, etc., to facilitate more outward development when, just months ago, it seemed apparent with gas prices that development would have to contain itself within a financially viable radius for commuters. Those economics will again prevail before too long.

[brandnewstuff]

Yes all Republican states where I am sure the contracts are looped to republican donors that are in Road Construction and I am sure those contracts if not mistaken have to do with the US Commerce department---

[scooperss]

I'm not going to bother to look them all up, but aren't KY, TX and NC all republican run states?

And , whew, glad my state wasn't included for a change.

[freshnotbitter]

I can identify with the above because I live in a fairly small town that needs a new high school and other infrastructure to support the building boom that put many new houses in the area but you hear contractors talk about putting a beltway around the town which is just a total idiocy.

thank heavens nobody takes it seriously but I can understand how it might be harder to stop in some big metro areas like Houston.

Obama should immediately appoint a non partisan independent body to examine all the road projects for "utility" and recommend which should be scrapped so we can use every available stimulus dollar for stuff that will be productive and appreciated by the electorate who will be re electing Obama if he doesn't blow it.

[Erika Earp]

I live in Fayetteville and I don't understand the point or purpose of the I-295 loop. The only purpose of it that I can see is connecting the north side of town with I-95. It's pretty pointless and should either be rethought or totally scrapped.