{"id":1560,"date":"2016-07-25T18:08:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T18:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/inthefold\/?p=1560"},"modified":"2016-08-02T17:36:25","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T22:36:25","slug":"happy-birthday-interstate-can-we-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/inthefold\/happy-birthday-interstate-can-we-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy birthday, Interstate. Can we talk?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 29, the U.S. interstate system turned 60<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 Happy birthday, old friend.\u00a0 Thank you for the billions of miles of unexpected surprises and family fun<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0The system of roads and bridges crisscross the American landscape promoting interstate and intercity commerce, allowing greater ability to explore our country and to connect people to new opportunity.\u00a0 A modern marvel then and still today.\u00a0 A feat of imagination, daring and hard work; laying the foundations of new communities in their wake.<\/p>\n

Sadly in our nation\u2019s history, roads and highways sometimes became mechanisms of division among people and the places in which they live(d).\u00a0 Neighborhoods were and remain cut off from one another.\u00a0 Communities were parceled and identity lost.\u00a0 The pride of community?\u00a0 Gone. In prosperity\u2019s place, crime, poverty, economic distress.\u00a0 Isolation.\u00a0 Not everywhere, and perhaps not that dramatic, but in some places, the pain is real and remains.<\/p>\n

As U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx recently noted, in some cases, this may be the result of intentional design. The former Charlotte, North Carolina Mayor is raising the historic red flag of highway policy that through history decimated some communities.<\/p>\n