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Conclusion ALK of TGV systems, light rail, and commuter rail lines would have warmed the heart of Lewis Mumford. Mumford’s advocacy of planned, integrated mass transit systems and pedestrian-centric environments remains timely, even if the execution would be challenging and extremely expensive. Some of his highway solutions, such as depressed urban expressways and scenic, autos-only parkways like the Taconic, are challenging as well. The costs of depressing an urban expressway are daunting, as was recently confirmed by Boston’s off-the-charts Fitzgerald Expressway (“Big Dig”) project. The parkways concept may work well in the Catskills, but most drivers are unwilling to drive at reduced speeds of 50 mph to negotiate twists and turns. In addition, parkways are not applicable in urban areas or in monotonous terrain. Sections of US 281 north of San Antonio and SH 71 west of Austin are attractive because of the hills and dales, not because of the highway. In other words, I-35 was not, and Texas 130 is not, a candidate for a Taconic-like parkway. Mumford would be pleasantly surprised by the revitalization of many U.S. cities after decades of decline. If much of this revival has been based on relatively narrow finance, legal, accounting, and sports venues, it is better than the alternative. Mumford would certainly be outraged by urban sprawl, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In 1940, only 15 percent of the U.S. population lived in suburbs. Sixty years later, this figure has soared to 60 percent and is still climbing. Most people live within suburban sprawl and probably even enjoy it. A stretch of sprawl between San Marcos and New Braunfels would represent 241 ~ pasture-eating, chain-store sameness to Mumford but a modern, convenient, and enjoyable place to live, work, and shop to many others. Even if the suburbanization of America is nearing its peak, spacious I-35 hubs like Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo would appear to be less likely, or less equipped, to benefit from a possible return to density. Texas’ major cities are relatively new, were laid out by wagon roads, and typically lack the type of dense urban neighborhoods that have made interstates controversial in many cities. While I-35 ripped out sections of Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo, the damage was limited by the fact that the ripped-out sections were not particularly dense. There have been occasional tiffs. In Laredo, I-35 was halted north of historic San Augustin Plaza for nearly fifteen years before it was extended south to the Rio Grande. San Antonio ’s North Expressway battle was waged over parklands but not people. In Austin, the construction of a second (elevated) highway above I-35 isolated East Austin from downtown in the 1970s and marshaled local resistance to subsequent widening plans. Otherwise, most Texas interstate highway projects, including Interstate 35, have proceeded rather smoothly. As for the impact of I-35 on smaller towns along old US 81 or US 77, the record is mixed. On the positive side, a number of historic town centers along the path of I-35 were bypassed by the interstate, including New Braunfels, San Marcos, Georgetown, Belton, Waxahachie, and Gainesville. This may not have helped their local economies, but it at least preserved their historic courthouse squares. On the negative side, interstates like I-35 must be criticized for damaging local communities. They have required massive swaths of right-of-way, particularly to accommodate cloverleaf and multilevel stacked interchanges, and have often bulldozed their way through long-established businesses, local institutions, and neighborhoods that lay in their path. In addition, the frontage roads have generated thousands of convenient chain-store establishments but in the process have destroyed thousands of independent small businesses, often located on downtown main streets. Of course, these criticisms are national in nature, not specific to Texas or to I-35. The largest interstate highway builder in the United States has been relatively unscathed by and immune to the general controversies. Most Texans have concluded that if interstates like I-35 did not exist, the competitive position of the Texas economy would suffer. The larger question—what if no urban interstates had ever been built in the United States and long-distance interstates had been routed away from urban areas, like German autobahns?—is moot. They have been built, they are a fact of life, and regional economies have 242 ≤onclusion [3...

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