BETA
Chapter 1
The birth of a concrete giant
Chapter 2
The secret code of the roads
Chapter 3
The heavy toll of progress
Chapter 4
Life in the fast lane
YOUR GOAL
Master of The interstate highway system
Ch 3 · The heavy toll of progress
sloane Build wildlife crossings over busy highways to discover how they reconnect fragmented animal habitats.
sloane America's Interstate Highways
New roads brought the nation closer, (Oh-oh, but at what cost?) Divided neighborhoods were torn apart, (Yeah-yeah, a heavy toll was paid.)
sloane Citizens fought back against highway plans, successfully stopping several major urban interstates.
sloane Interstate construction decimated thriving Black communities, such as Rondo in St. Paul.
Fun Fact
Banff's crossings: Canada's Banff National Park has built 44 wildlife crossings, reducing animal highway collisions by over 80 percent.
Quiz
What environmental pollutant, commonly used to melt ice on interstates, poses a major threat to nearby freshwater streams?
Quiz
What term describes the fragmentation of ecosystems caused when a massive highway cuts through a natural habitat?
Quiz
Which historic, prosperous Black neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, was physically destroyed by the construction of Interstate 94?
Quiz
How do wildlife crossings, like those built over Interstate 80 in Utah, help ecosystems?
Quiz
Why did mid-century highway planners route major interstates directly through urban neighborhoods instead of around them?
Quiz
Which city's activists famously halted the construction of the Embarcadero Freeway, leading to its eventual demolition after an earthquake?
Quiz
What were the citizen-led protests of the late 1960s that successfully stopped highway construction in cities like Boston and San Francisco called?