Why roads changed cities
In the middle of the twentieth century, cars and trucks became the main way Americans traveled, and governments built roads on a new scale. Cities were crossed by routes intended to move traffic quickly between downtowns, suburbs and other regions. The federal highway legislation of 1956 funded a national interstate system, with the federal government paying most of the cost of construction. Many urban highways were planned in the years that followed.
The goals were reasonable on their own terms: shorter trips, easier freight movement and better access to jobs. The costs were less evenly shared. A highway needs a wide strip of land, and in a built-up city that land usually already held homes, shops and streets.
Camden’s bridges
Camden’s relationship with the road network started well before the interstate era. The Delaware River Bridge, later renamed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, opened in 1926 and linked Camden directly to Philadelphia. The Walt Whitman Bridge opened in 1957 farther downriver. Together with other crossings in the region, these river bridges made Camden more connected to the car-oriented region, and they made it easier to drive through the city than to stop in it.
Earlier ferry service had once been the main way across, and the move to bridges changed which parts of the waterfront mattered. Ferry terminals had attracted shops, hotels and commerce nearby. Bridge approaches directed traffic to different places, and some older commercial areas lost activity as a result.
Roadways through neighborhoods
New approach roads, expressways and interchanges were built through and around parts of Camden in the middle and later decades of the century. Routes such as the Delaware Expressway, now numbered Interstate 676, run close to the waterfront and the downtown area. Other state and federal routes link the city to the suburbs and to the New Jersey Turnpike system.
The effects of this kind of construction in cities like Camden have commonly included:
- Displacement. Households and businesses in the path of a project were required to move, often with compensation that did not cover the loss of a settled community.
- Division. A raised or sunken roadway can become a barrier that is hard for pedestrians to cross, separating neighbors from schools, shops and each other.
- Noise and air quality. Traffic near homes can bring noise and pollution, which affect the people living closest.
- Cut-off waterfronts. Roads built beside the river can separate residents from the water, and make public access harder.
Routes were often placed through areas that planners then described as run-down, or where residents had less political influence, and critics have pointed out that this pattern affected lower-income and minority neighborhoods in many American cities. Specific decisions in Camden should be checked in planning records and local histories rather than assumed.
Roads and the exit from the city
Highways also supported the move of households and jobs away from older cities. A commuter could live in a newly built suburb and drive to work in the city, or work in a suburban office park without entering the city at all. This interacts with the postwar growth described in the article on suburban flight. At the same time, public transportation received far less investment than roads in many regions, which left residents without cars with fewer options.
Road building was not the only force behind decline, and it is easy to overstate its role. Industrial job loss, housing policy and lending practices all mattered, and they reinforced one another.
Rethinking the legacy
Planners today approach these questions differently. Current practice in urban planning gives more attention to the effects on neighbors, and street redesigns that follow complete streets principles try to make roads safer for walkers and cyclists. In some American cities, communities have studied or carried out removal or capping of urban highways, though such projects are costly and complex.
In Camden, rail services such as the PATCO Speedline and the region’s light rail have offered an alternative to driving for many trips, and waterfront projects have aimed to reconnect the city with the Delaware. How much these changes have repaired earlier damage is a matter of debate.
Checking details
Construction dates, route numbers and project descriptions are best confirmed with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the Delaware River Port Authority, which operates several regional crossings, and local archives. Maps from different decades, available through libraries and historical societies, can show how the street pattern changed over time.