Mini-Manifesto: No Urban Freeways

Interstate System - CMH
Quick Mini-Manifesto:

  1. Urban freeways are linked to childhood asthma and other health issues.
  2. Urban freeways concentrate tailpipe emissions.
  3. Motorists passing through urban cores on freeways generally don’t pay local taxes but leave their carbon footprint via the tailpipe.
  4. Motorists passing through urban cores should be made to travel around the core, affecting less people.
  5. Urban freeways should be removed, replaced with higher-bandwidth transportation options – light rail, heavy rail and commuter rail – to serve residents
  6. Feeder systems and regional service should interconnect with the urban transportation network.

You could do everything above, or just do the following:

  1. Adequately tax the price of tailpipe emissions through congestion pricing.

I know this isn’t fully resolved, especially the increased emissions from making people drive around urban cores and the cost of infrastructure. I get that. This statement is polemical and one-sided on purpose to form a dialectic to studying this urban issue.
Comments?