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Freeway Revolts!

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey Brinkman
  • Jeffrey Lin

Abstract

Freeway revolts were widespread protests across the U.S. following early urban Interstate construction in the mid-1950s. We present theory and evidence from panel data on neighborhoods and travel behavior to show that diminished quality of life from freeway disamenities inspired the revolts, a?ected the allocation of freeways within cities, and changed city structure. First, actual freeway construction diverged from initial plans in the wake of the growing freeway revolts and subsequent policy responses, especially in central neighborhoods. Second, freeways caused slower growth in population, income, and land values in central areas, but faster growth in outlying areas. These patterns suggest that in central areas, freeway disamenity e?ects exceeded small access bene?ts. Third, in a quantitative general equilibrium spatial model, the aggregate bene?ts from burying or capping freeways are large and concentrated downtown. This result suggests that targeted mitigation policies could improve welfare and helps explain why opposition to freeways is often observed in central neighborhoods. Disamenities from freeways, versus their commuting bene?ts, likely played a signi?cant role in the decentralization of U.S. cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Brinkman & Jeffrey Lin, 2019. "Freeway Revolts!," Working Papers 19-29, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:19-29
    DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2019.29
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    Cited by:

    1. Gaigne, Carl & Koster, Hans R.A. & Moizeau, Fabien & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2020. "Income Sorting Across Space: The Role of Amenities and Commuting Costs," Working Papers 302579, Institut National de la recherche Agronomique (INRA), Departement Sciences Sociales, Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement (SAE2).
    2. Aaronson, Daniel & Faber, Jacob & Hartley, Daniel & Mazumder, Bhashkar & Sharkey, Patrick, 2021. "The long-run effects of the 1930s HOLC “redlining” maps on place-based measures of economic opportunity and socioeconomic success," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Glaeser, Edward L. & Ponzetto, Giacomo A.M., 2018. "The political economy of transportation investment," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 4-26.
    4. Stephen J. Redding, 2020. "Comment on "Transportation Infrastructure in the US"," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, pages 210-217, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Barde, Sylvain & Klein, Alexander, 2021. "Transportation Costs in the Age of Highways: Evidence from United States 1955-2010," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 597, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    7. Lin, Jeffrey & Rauch, Ferdinand, 2022. "What future for history dependence in spatial economics?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Edison Yu, 2022. "Banking Trends: Discrimination in Mortgage Markets," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 7(1), pages 2-8, March.
    9. Dávid Krisztián Nagy, 2021. "Quantitative Economic Geography Meets History: Questions, Answers and Challenges," Working Papers 1249, Barcelona School of Economics.
    10. Christopher Severen, 2020. "A Ticket to Ride: Estimating the Benefits of Rail Transit," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 5(2), pages 1-9, June.
    11. Dingel, Jonathan & Tintelnot, Felix, 2020. "Spatial Economics for Granular Settings," CEPR Discussion Papers 14819, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Jeffrey Brinkman & Jeffrey Lin, 2022. "The Costs and Benefits of Fixing Downtown Freeways," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 7(1), pages 17-22, March.
    13. Schauder, Stephanie A., 2020. "The Effect of Sprawl Development on Grocery Store Location and Food Access," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304173, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Igor Livshits, 2022. "Meet the New Borrowers," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 7(1), pages 9-16, March.
    15. Krimmel, Jacob, 2018. "Persistence of Prejudice: Estimating the Long Term Effects of Redlining," SocArXiv jdmq9, Center for Open Science.
    16. David Krisztián Nagy, 2020. "Quantitative economic geography meets history: Questions, answers and challenges," Economics Working Papers 1774, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Mar 2021.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    central cities; amenities; commuting costs; suburbanization; highways;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N72 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning

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