Living in Minneapolis, it is hard to ignore the massive highways like I-35W that cut the city into pieces. When I walk over the bridges, I always wonder: Why were these huge roads built right through the middle of our neighborhoods? The context is that decades ago, the city decided to plow these highways through busy, lived-in areas to make it easier for people to drive in and out of downtown. To do this, they tore down thousands of homes and split communities in half. Even now, you can be standing on a nice sidewalk and hear the constant roar of cars right below you. It feels like the city was built for traffic instead of for the people who actually live here.
You should care because these roads act like invisible walls. They decide which parts of the city are loud and polluted and which parts stay quiet. If we want Minneapolis to feel like a real community again, we have to look at how these old decisions still keep us separated today.