Rooted/Unrouted: West Baltimore and the Highway to Nowhere
Series: Rooted/Unrouted
From: Elsa Lankford
Length: 00:31:41
This is the first portion of an audio documentary I have been working on since 2008.
The East-West Expressway was a planned highway to connect Route I-70 near the Baltimore Beltway through Leakin Park and many historic and/or black neighborhoods. It was to go across the harbor with a 16 lane bridge and then connect with I-95. Only a small portion of the highway was built, the "Highway to Nowhere," where 20 blocks of houses and communities were lost for a short stretch of road.
Neighborhoods, communities, and organizations eventually won the highway war, one of many across the country. The Red Line, a 14 mile transit line, will follow much of the proposed route. The Gwynns Falls Trail, a hiking and biking trail, runs through Leakin Park from where the I-70 highway stops.
This piece delves into the history and memories of residents and community activists and lets them tell their stories about the fight to stop the highway and how things have changed since from both the planning and community perspective.
Recorded, produced and edited by Elsa Lankford with assistance from Kristine Dunkerton and Eileen Lankford.
Music composed by Elsa Lankford.
Many thanks to the interviewees and the stories you shared.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
This is the first portion of an audio documentary I have been working on since 2008.
The East-West Expressway was a planned highway to connect Route I-70 near the Baltimore Beltway through Leakin Park and many historic and/or black neighborhoods. It was to go across the harbor with a 16 lane bridge and then connect with I-95. Only a small portion of the highway was built, the "Highway to Nowhere," where 20 blocks of houses and communities were lost for a short stretch of road.
Neighborhoods, communities, and organizations eventually won the highway war, one of many across the country. The Red Line, a 14 mile transit line, will follow much of the proposed route. The Gwynns Falls Trail, a hiking and biking trail, runs through Leakin Park from where the I-70 highway stops.
This piece delves into the history and memories of residents and community activists and lets them tell their stories about the fight to stop the highway and how things have changed since from both the planning and community perspective.
Recorded, produced and edited by Elsa Lankford with assistance from Kristine Dunkerton and Eileen Lankford.
Music composed by Elsa Lankford.
Many thanks to the interviewees and the stories you shared.
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Baltimore City had been searching for a way to get people moving from the east side to the west side for generations. In the 1950's through the 80s, the East-West Expressway was the chosen path. It was to connect Interstate 70 on the west side, cut through the 1000 acre wilderness of Leakin Park, and the historic and/or black neighborhoods including Rosemont, Federal Hill, Fells Point, and Canton. Technically, the neighborhoods and organizations that came together to fight the highway won. However, the lack of community input and destruction caused by planning the highway, and the single 1 mile corridor of completed highway, the "Highway to Nowhere" in West Baltimore, caused displacement and distrust.
Currently, the Red Line, an east-west mass transit light rail line is set to run through many of these same neighborhoods. How has planning changed from the days of the building of the Highway to Nowhere? Elsa Lankford, an independent producer and professor at Towson University near Baltimore, has been talking to residents, community leaders, and city and transit planners. Here is the first segment of Rooted/Unrouted, West Baltimore and the Highway to Nowhere.
OUTRO:Additional Credits
Kristine Dunkerton - assistant editor
Eileen Lankford - transcription
