Created Equal: Why Texas continues to expand its highways
Author Megan Kimble joined the show to discuss how Texas became so invested in its highways and how the construction will impact its residents.
A westward view of Interstate 10, known as the Katy Freeway, in Houston, Texas.
Since the Federal Highway Act created the interstate system in 1956, states across the nation have conceded a lot of land to cars and roads.
Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
Neighborhoods were destroyed and communities have been displaced as a result. The state of Michigan is working on a plan to redevelop the one-mile strip of I-375 in an effort to undo some of those harms. Texas officials are doing the opposite, says journalist and author Megan Kimble. In her new book, “City Limits,” Kimble details how the state with some of the tallest and widest motorways in the country plans to expand them. “I think what is distinct here is that we have a specific funding mechanism, so how our state fund is supported by drivers across the state. Ninety-seven percent of that money is — in the state constitution of Texas — required to be spent on roads,” Kimble said. “..over the last decade you’ve seen this huge infusion of cash into the state highway fund. And so the Texas transportation commission, which oversees our state highway department, recently passed a 10-year budget that commits $140 billion over the coming decade to build roads across our state.” Kimble joined Created Equal on Monday to discuss how Texas became so invested in its highways and how the construction will impact its residents. Guest- Megan Kimble is a journalist, editor, and the author of two books of nonfiction, most recently “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways.”
Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
