Transportation and Historic Preservation
What does historic preservation have to do with transportation policy?
Transportation and preservation share a goal: creating better lives for Americans. Too often, unfortunately, badly conceived road projects have damaged, even destroyed, important parts of the nation's heritage. The devastation was most obvious after the highway-building binge of the '50s and '60s: billions of dollars of asphalt and concrete scarred beautiful rural landscapes and tore the hearts out of traditional urban neighborhoods.
Our Position
The National Trust for Historic Preservation supports Federal transportation efforts directed at protecting historic and cultural resources through Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1964 as well as more recent programs that provide funding for the preservation and protection of transportation-related historic resources and cultural sites through Enhancements Program funding under the aegis of the Department of Transportation.
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Americans have learned that there are better ways. The federal Department of Transportation Act of 1966 included Section 4(f), which forced planners to develop projects that protect historic resources like the French Quarter in New Orleans and Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
In the last ten years, the addition of transportation enhancements has given communities more than 17,000 projects of the kind they want, such as bike paths, rails-to-trails conversions, and Main Street improvements. Historic neighborhoods and downtowns have also benefited from improved transit, which makes it easier to get to jobs, homes, shopping, and entertainment.
Individual case studies and other resources also demonstrate the need for maintaining a strong Section 4(f) regulatory presence as well as more advanced transportation planning concepts and designs to keep community character and cultural resources intact while preserving traditional land use patterns.
