Before and After: SE Freeway
4 12 2007On your left, is a picture from 1928 of the vibrant intersection of Virginia Ave and 8th Street in SE DC, on your right is the same intersection today. Seeing how drastically the southeast freeway changed a neighborhood is unbelievable.
It’s not that far of a stretch to blame much of the isolation and underdevelopment of southeast DC on the Freeway which cuts the area in half. Though large highways became necessary to bring in the explosion of traffic new cars caused in the 40s and 50s, the designers must have had no idea of the longer term effects they would have on the surrounding area. Maybe we’re just nostalgic from the black and white photo but look how nice the neighborhood used to look.
Alternative title for this article: “Proof That Jane Jacobs Is In Heaven And Robert Moses Is In Hell”
New freeways were seen as necessary in the 50s, but it’s less clear that they were necessary. Building them destroyed neighborhoods in the city and simply encouraged even more development far out in the suburbs. Besides, Maryland is doing fine even though the freeways that were originally planned to cut through the city to the north (passing through parts of Shaw, Dupont, Adams Morgan, and other vibrant neighborhoods) never got built.
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