Building Bridges or Barriers? The Racial and Environmental Impacts of Urban Highways

• Highway development projects in Omaha have historically favored affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods while disadvantaging minority communities.
• Environmental burdens from highways, such as pollution and displacement, disproportionately impact neighborhoods of color.
• Effective urban planning requires integrating social and environmental considerations to address and mitigate inequalities.

Introduction

What if the roads we travel every day are paving the way for deeper social and environmental divides?

This is the question taken up in a new study by Pierce Greenberg of Clemson University, and Ryan Wishart and Sabrina Danielsen of Creighton University. Published in Environmental Sociology, they show that from North Omaha to West Omaha, the impact of highway development varies drastically, highlighting stark environmental and social disparities.

Read on to learn more about their case study of highway construction in Omaha, Nebraska, and what you can do to reduce the social and environmental effects of highways in your community.

Background

Greenberg et al. are examining the intersection of two emerging areas of scholarship: the study of (1) “relative distribution environmental inequality” in cities, and (2) the integration of environmental factors into urban sociology. They want to explore how highway projects create relational environmental inequality, highlighting the disparity between social groups that benefit from these projects and those that suffer from their pollution:

• Environmental inequality research often focuses on how disadvantaged groups, typically defined by race or class, live closer to environmental hazards.
• However, this approach frequently misses how more privileged groups gain from these hazards.
• To address this, Downey (2005) introduced the concept of relative distribution environmental inequality, which emphasizes examining how advantaged groups disproportionately benefit from environmental harms.
• Seamster and Purifoy (2021) expanded on this with the concept of relational uneven development through racial capitalism. In other words, this concept describes how the prosperity of certain urban areas directly relates to the underdevelopment of others due to racial and class hierarchies.

Greenberg et al.’s study also contributes to the growing field of environmental urban sociology:

• Traditionally, urban sociology has treated nature and society as separate entities.
• However, recent research argues that urban development and the movement of people are environmental dynamics that can impact racial health disparities and overall inequality (Angelo and Greenberg, 2023).

Highways are a prime example of how infrastructure can create environmental inequality:

• Designed to promote economic growth by improving transportation, highways often benefit affluent, predominantly white communities while harming poorer, predominantly non-white neighborhoods.
• These harms include displacement, pollution, and reduced social capital.
• Historical evidence shows that highway construction often targeted communities of color for destruction under the guise of slum removal, leading to long-lasting negative impacts (Bullard, Johnson, and Torres, 2004).

Highways bring several social and environmental burdens:

• Socially, highway construction often displaces communities, particularly those of color, and divides neighborhoods, reducing social cohesion and access to resources.
• Economically, highways tend to relocate jobs to the suburbs, creating a spatial mismatch where disadvantaged communities have less access to well-paying jobs and economic opportunities (Sharkey, 2013).
• Environmentally, highways contribute significantly to pollution, particularly traffic-related airborne particulate matter. This pollution has severe health implications, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and even mental health issues (Boothe and Shendell, 2008; Pun, Manjourides, and Suh, 2019).
• Additionally, noise pollution from highways adversely affects physical and psychological health (Stansfeld, Haines, and Brown, 2000).

Research shows that neighborhoods of color are disproportionately affected by these environmental burdens:

• For instance, studies have found that predominantly white neighborhoods have lower levels of air pollution compared to neighborhoods with higher proportions of minority residents (Jones et al., 2014).
• This pattern is consistent across various cities and demographic contexts, illustrating a persistent link between racial demographics and exposure to environmental hazards.

Methods

Greenberg et al.’s study aims to provide empirical evidence of the benefit-burden relationship associated with highway development in Omaha, Nebraska. Using historical case studies and modern data on the racial makeup of neighborhoods, we explore how highway projects have differentially impacted various communities. By examining both historical decision-making processes and current geographic and social inequities, they aim to highlight the complex dynamics of environmental inequality in urban settings.

For this case study on the impact of highway development projects in Omaha, the authors utilized a variety of primary sources, focusing heavily on historical newspaper archives:

1. Omaha World Herald (1878 to present): This is the largest daily newspaper in Omaha, providing comprehensive coverage of local events and developments over a long period.
2. Omaha Star (1938 to 2011): This is the only remaining African American newspaper in Omaha and focuses on the historically Black community in North Omaha.
3. The Omaha Evening Bee-News (1872–1937): Known for sensationalist reporting and its association with the Nebraska Republican Party.
4. The South Omaha Sun (1925–1963): A weekly newspaper dedicated to the South Omaha neighborhood.
5. The North Omaha Booster/The North Omaha Sun (1950–1958): Focused on the North Omaha neighborhood.
6. The Benson Times/The Benson Sun (1907–1963): Covered the Benson neighborhood and surrounding areas in west Omaha.
7. The West Omaha and Dundee Sun (1968): Covered the Dundee neighborhood and further west Omaha.

Greenberg et al. conducted extensive keyword searches across these databases using terms related to highway development, such as ‘freeway,’ ‘highway,’ and ‘expressway,’ combined with specific location identifiers like ‘North Omaha,’ ‘South Omaha,’ ‘West Omaha,’ and ‘West Dodge.’ When they encountered new terms for these highways in articles, they performed further searches with these terms to uncover more relevant information. They also searched for key individuals, government offices, and organizations involved in the highway planning and construction processes.

The authors’ research covered newspaper articles from May 1935 to the present, focusing particularly on the periods of significant activity for each highway:

• Kennedy (South) Freeway: 1957–1963
• North Freeway: 1973–1982
• West Dodge Expressway: 1958–1970 and 1998–2006

To supplement the newspaper data, the authors accessed primary sources from the Center for Public Affairs Research at DigitalCommons@UNO Publication Archives (1963–2000). These sources included published research reports commissioned by local government agencies to study the planned highway routes.

They also employed historic satellite imagery provided by Douglas County, Nebraska. This visual data helped them understand the physical impact of the highway projects on neighborhoods before and after their construction.

By triangulating information from these varied sources, Greenberg et al. aimed to construct a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of how these highway projects affected different communities in Omaha, with particular attention to racial dynamics.

Findings

Omaha’s North Omaha, South Omaha, and West Omaha neighborhoods each tell a different story of racial and economic dynamics:

• North Omaha: Historically Black and redlined, this area has faced disinvestment, white flight, and over-policing.
• South Omaha: Predominantly Hispanic, this area has an industrial legacy with meatpacking plants attracting waves of immigrants over the years.
• West Omaha: Wealthy and predominantly White, featuring suburban sprawl and benefiting from tax-exempt financing for infrastructure.

Each of these neighborhoods had a highway constructed nearby, shaping their current socio-economic and environmental realities. The planning and construction of Omaha’s highways reflect varying power relationships:

1. Kennedy Freeway (South Omaha): Originally planned to cut through stable residential and business districts, community input rerouted it through industrial areas, mitigating residential displacement but increasing industrial pollution.
2. North Freeway (North Omaha): Despite community opposition, this highway was routed through predominantly Black neighborhoods, leading to significant displacement and long-term negative impacts on the community.
3. West Dodge Expressway (West Omaha): Faced with resistance from wealthy residents, the freeway was eventually constructed to minimize impact on residential areas, showing how affluent neighborhoods could influence planning to their benefit.

The consequences of these highway projects have been starkly different:

• North Freeway: Led to the destruction of 2,000 buildings and severed access to local resources, with the highway cutting through what was once a thriving Black business district.
• Kennedy Freeway: While avoiding massive residential displacement, it compounded existing industrial pollution issues and facilitated the bypass of minority neighborhoods by commuters.
• West Dodge Expressway: Constructed with minimal impact on residential properties by building on top of existing commercial roads, it demonstrated how affluent communities can avoid the negative impacts of infrastructure projects.

Using data from Streetlight, a location-based services provider, the study analyzed the demographics of drivers on these highways compared to those of adjacent neighborhoods. The findings reveal significant racial disparities:

• North Freeway: Drivers come from neighborhoods that are significantly less diverse than those adjacent to the freeway.
• Kennedy Freeway: The disparity is even more pronounced, with drivers predominantly from White neighborhoods, while the adjacent areas are largely Hispanic.
• West Dodge Expressway: There is minimal demographic difference between drivers’ neighborhoods and those adjacent to the highway, indicating a more equitable impact in this wealthier area.

This study highlights how historical and current highway projects reflect and perpetuate environmental inequalities. Highways in Omaha have facilitated easier access for wealthier, predominantly White suburbs, often at the expense of minority communities. The evidence underscores the need for policies that address both the environmental harm and the socio-economic disparities resulting from such infrastructure developments.

What Can You Do?

Addressing the disparities caused by highway development and ensuring equitable urban planning requires a concerted effort from policymakers, community members, and organizations. Here are actionable steps you can take to advocate for and contribute to more just and sustainable urban infrastructure:

1. Participate in Community Planning Meetings: Engage in local urban planning meetings and voice concerns about proposed infrastructure projects. Advocate for inclusive planning processes that consider the needs of all community members, especially those from disadvantaged neighborhoods.
2. Support Environmental Justice Organizations: Contribute time or resources to organizations focused on environmental justice. These groups often work to combat environmental inequalities and promote policies that benefit marginalized communities.
3. Advocate for Improved Public Transportation: Push for increased funding and development of public transportation systems that serve all neighborhoods equitably. Improved public transit can reduce reliance on highways, decrease pollution, and provide better access to jobs and services for disadvantaged communities.
4. Promote Green Infrastructure: Support initiatives that integrate green infrastructure, such as parks, green roofs, and urban gardens, into urban planning. Green infrastructure can mitigate pollution, improve mental and physical health, and enhance community cohesion.
5. Encourage Sustainable Housing Development: Advocate for affordable housing near job centers and public transit. This can reduce commute times, lower traffic congestion, and decrease pollution levels, creating a healthier urban environment.
6. Support Policy Changes: Lobby for policy changes that promote equitable urban development. This includes stricter fuel efficiency standards, incentives for remote work, and regulations that prevent displacement due to infrastructure projects.
7. Educate and Raise Awareness: Organize or participate in educational campaigns to raise awareness about the impact of highway development on marginalized communities. Informing others can build a broader base of support for equitable urban planning initiatives.
8. Monitor and Report Environmental Hazards: Engage in citizen science projects to monitor air and noise pollution in your neighborhood. Reporting these findings to local authorities can help push for necessary environmental regulations and interventions.
9. Collaborate with Local Governments: Work with local governments to develop and implement policies that address environmental and social disparities caused by past infrastructure projects. Collaborative efforts can lead to more comprehensive and effective solutions.
10. Invest in Community Development: Support local businesses and community projects in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Economic investment in these areas can counteract some of the negative impacts of highway development and foster community resilience.

The authors themselves identify several promising solutions, including increasing public transportation funding, improving fuel efficiency standards, incentivizing remote work, and strategically planning housing near job centers to reduce commute times. By acknowledging and addressing these inequalities, local governments can better address the needs of disadvantaged communities, work towards more just and sustainable urban planning, and ensure that infrastructure projects benefit all residents, not just the affluent few.

How has highway construction shaped racial inequalities where you live? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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