Presented at the American Society of Landscape Architects, 2022 Washington Chapter Conference: Emergence.

1. How I Helped
Build a Freeway
(and Destroy a City)
Alex R. Mann
Urban Planner
M.S. Human-Centered Design, UW
Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, WSU

2. Presentation
Summary
● While many cities are dismantling or
retrofitting their highway
infrastructure, Eastern Washington's
largest city, Spokane, is building a new
one.
● Central to the public involvement
process (NSC Place) was the
employment of “placemaking.”
● This session seeks to:
○ uncover what went wrong (and right)
in that process,
○ critique the project's premise, and
○ project a possible path beyond.

3. ● Critically reflect on Placemaking
and public involvement theory
● Recognize exploitation of
marginalized communities
● Imagine what social equity can be
● Consider human-centered design as
framework for a just future
Learning
Objectives

4. How did I get here?
● Lead Researcher, EWU
○ Placemaking Process Design
○ Charrette Facilitation
● January - July 2018
○ Resigned
○ Loss of faith in the process
○ Convinced of the net detriment to the communities
● Never really let it go

5. The North
Spokane Corridor
Purpose & History

6. What is the
North Spokane Corridor?
● The North Spokane Corridor (NSC) is a $1.5 Billion, 10.5-mile “multi-modal
corridor.”
○ 6-lane, 60-mile per hour, north/south limited access facility that
connects I-90 at the south (just west of the existing Thor/Freya
interchange) and connects to US 2 (at Farwell Road) and US 395 (at
Wandermere) on the north end
○ The Children of the Sun Trail
■ 16-foot-wide paved pedestrian and bicycle trail
■ Parallels the full length of the North Spokane Corridor
■ Will connect east end neighborhoods with the Centennial Trail
and other established trails (e.g. Ben Burr)
https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/major-projects/north-spokane-corridor

7. Location

8. Hillyard Historic District
Source: The Pacific NW Inlander

10. Street Closures

13. Purported Benefits
● Travel time reductions
○ Between Wandermere and I-90 will be shortened to approximately 12 minutes.
○ Free-flowing freeway that will not conflict with schools, parks, or shopping areas.
○ Fewer trucks on arterial roadways through the city of Spokane will result in cleaner
air because drivers will no longer need to stop at lights or intersections.
● Economic development
○ Each year the US 395 corridor carries 7.2 million tons of freight ($13.5 billion)
through Spokane. Between 1993 and 2003 freight shipments increased by 58%.
○ Opportunity for adjacent commercial and industrial development (approx. 2,100
acres of land located along the route).
● Improve safety and reduced collisions
○ Estimated $22 million / year in avoided societal costs.
● Designated as a multi-modal corridor
○ Children of the Sun trail system will connect into the Centennial Trail and other
established trail systems along with other neighborhoods.
https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/major-projects/north-spokane-corridor

14. Travel Time
Reductions
● Existing north/south routes
from I-90 & Downtown
Spokane to North Spokane &
Wandermere
○ Maple / Ash
○ Division / Ruby
○ Hamilton / Nevada
○ Freya / Market
Maple
/
Ash
Division
/
Ruby
Freya
/
Market
Hamilton
/
Nevada
I-90

15. U.S. Highway 2
● Division Street / Ruby
○ “Stroad”
● “[The NSC] was chosen to
keep the movement of
freight and goods off city
streets.”
● SRTC future plans for bus-
rapid transit on Division
● Will remain a state route
North Division Street looking south in Spokane, Washington. By Wikimedia user: T85cr1ft19m1n.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DivisionStreetSpokane.jpg

16. Economic Development
● Northeast Public Development Authority
● Targeted Investment Area, “The Yard”
● Qualifies for federal “opportunity zone”
grants
● A Spokane Brownfield
Redevelopment Opportunity Zone
○ “Black tank”
● Sales and Use Tax Exemption
● Market Access:
○ NAFTA corridor,
○ Class One Rail services and spur
access,
○ T-1 Truck Distribution Route
● Over 500 acres of heavy and light
industrial zoned property
https://advantagespokane.com/northeast-pda/

17. “NAFTA Corridor”
● Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act of
1991 (ISTEA) designates FHWA
High Priority Corridors
● Corridor #19: United States
Route 395 Corridor from the
United States-Canadian border
to Reno, Nevada.
● Washington, Oregon, California
and Nevada
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/high_priority_corridors/

18. How Interstate-90
Split Spokane
● Downtown Spokane
● East Central Neighborhood
○ Historically diverse
neighborhood
○ Redlining, “slum” clearing
● Liberty Park
○ Kirtland Cutter &
Olmsted Brothers
designs
○ I-90 consumed 19 of the
original 21 acres

19. NSC Early History
1946
Original Conception
According to WSDOT, the NSC was
original conceived this year. This
may have coincided with the
completion of the Alaska Highway
project, built through Canada as a
defense effort to provide a land link
from the 48 States to Alaska, a U.S.
territory at that time.
Federal-Aid Highway Act
Inspired in part by the Reichsautobahnen, witnessed
during his time as an Army General stationed in
Germany, President Dwight Eisenhower signs a bill
creating a 41,000-mile “National System of
Interstate and Defense Highways”.
1956
1970
NEPA + Corridor Study
The National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) is signed into law. State
Department of Highways releases
SMATS & the North Spokane and
North Suburban Area Freeway
Study, recommending an alignment
along the Nevada-Helena Corridor
(adjacent to Gonzaga University).
1972
Environmental Impact Statement
Completed
Though completed, the statement
is never approved.
1974
NSC on Hiatus
Funding for the North Spokane
Corridor was deleted from the state
budget.
World
War
II
Ends

20. Margaret Hurley
● State legislator, central Spokane
● Political activism prevented the construction
of the NSC and the demolition of 600 homes as
well as parks, schools and churches in the
Nevada-Lidgerwood Neighborhood
● Supported by Margaret Leonard on Spokane
City Council
● Pushed through a bill requiring environmental
review of all state highway projects
○ War of attrition, cost-prohibitive
Margaret Hurley, photographed in 1980 while serving as a state
senator. (Larry Reisnouer / The Spokesman-Review)

21. Shifting NSC
Alignment
● Original route followed the
Hamilton/Nevada alignment
● Not officially changed until
1991 after completion of new
studies that recommend an
alignment along Market St. to
the east
● 1997: EIS approved
● 2001: Groundbreaking
● 2015: Full funding through
legislature’s Connecting
Washington package
Maple
/
Ash
Division
/
Ruby
Freya
/
Market
Hamilton
/
Nevada
I-90

22. NSC Place
Process
A Brief Summary
Let’s briefly venture to a different file. ;)
See more at nscplace.com

23. Some Positives of NSC Place
● Expanded definition of public involvement results in a more
robust engagement process.
● Attention paid to historic damage to communities, especially
those of color, with intent to be better at “involving” those
directly affected.
● Placemaking activities rooted in a nationally vetted
placemaking program (i.e., Project for Public Spaces)
● Long neglected environments finally receive planning and
design attention aimed at providing public amenities across
many historically underserved neighborhoods

24. Contradictions of NSC Place
● Expansion of fossil fuel transportation infrastructure
● “Induced demand” likely to increase traffic congestion
● Further disruption of the local grid network via street
closures
● Increased localized pollution
○ Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) & Respiratory Issues
● Top-down, project-driven, neocolonialism
● Narrow definition of “place” focused on constructing “things”
● Participation general limited to location and aesthetics
● Historically marginalized communities continue to bear brunt
of this infrastructure and its associated costs

25. Fossil Fuel Transportation
● We must end all new oil, gas, and coal exploration to avoid
the worst of climate change (IPCC 2021)
● International shipping (NAFTA priority corridors) and the
growth imperative
○ Capital requires growth (extraction/exploitation)
● Absurdity of an agency whose modus operandi is the
reproduction of a fossil fuel-dependent automobile and truck
transportation system while purporting to be “placemakers”

26. Why is this happening,
despite all we know about
the contradictions of
creating “place” predicated
upon the exacerbation of
numerous social crises?

27. “I got pegged, or tagged, with the
stigma of being against freeways, and
I had to keep repeating, ‘I am not
against freeways. I am only against
where you’re locating freeways.’”
— Margaret Hurley, 1997
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/dec/19/getting -there-
margaret-hurley-forced-state-to-take/#/0

28. Lili Navarrete in a field where her childhood home used to stand, July 7, 2022, in Spokane, Wash. Navarrete’s parents
sold the house and land to the Washington State Department of Transportation, which demolished the house, for the
construction of the North Spokane Corridor.
Photo by Young Kwak for Crosscut

29. On Ideology
Stills (detail) from: They Live (1988). Dir. John Carpenter. Universal Pictures.
● Slavoj Žižek, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
● Putting the glasses on
○ Ideology is not imposed on us, but rather our
spontaneous relationship to reality.
● To step out of one’s present ideology can be
painful. We often must be forced to see.
○ We resist confronting our own ideologies
because it is easier to remain ignorant.

30. Critical Urban Theory
● Rejects “linear progress of history” as applied to urbanism
● Critical of state, technocracy, and markets
● Emphasizes possibility of a more democratic, socially just,
and sustainable form of urbanism
● Critique of ideology and the critique of power, inequality,
injustice and exploitation, at once within and among cities
From: “What is critical urban theory?” by Neil Brenner, City, Vol. 13, Nos. 2–3, June–Sept. 2009

31. Titanic:
Catastrophe
Sustains Illusion
● Rose (upper class),
suffocated by wealth &
patriarchy is rejuvenated by
Jack (lower class) and his
free spirited vitality.
● Jack reconstitutes Rose’s
self-image (literally draws
her image).
● What happens if the Titanic
doesn’t sink and they do
make it to New York? Does
the relationship last?
Still from Titanic (1997). Dir. James Cameron. Paramount Pictures.

32. Vampiric Placemaking
● Placemaking as vampirism of a “victimized” community (from
decades of disinvestment, economic occupation of land, and
siphoning of resources to private fossil fuel interests)
● Reconstitution of WSDOT’s image (from placetakers and
historically racist displacement to as placemakers, healers, and
champions of equity)
● Placemaking becomes a new form of savior colonialism
● Upon completion of the process, the highway is constructed with
an aestheticized veneer.
● Placemaking reconstitutes the image of the professional class.

33. Arnstein’s Ladder
of Citizen
Participation
● Sherry R. Arnstein’s “A Ladder of
Citizen Participation,” Journal of
the American Planning
Association, Vol. 35, No. 4, July
1969, pp. 216-224.
● What do you see when you “put
the glasses on” while looking at
the NSC Place process?

34. “Yes, but…”

35. Pitfalls of Myopic Attention to the
Procedure
● The point should not be to assess how well the community’s
“voice” was “heard,” or how well-represented the community
was in a process not of their own design.
● We should instead ask, why does our understanding of
professionalism embrace institutional ideologies of conformance
to over organized resistance to projects clearly detrimental to
the communities we serve?
○ What happened to the radical urbanists of the 60s and 70s?

36. What is to be done?

37. Don’t act. Think!
Žižek on interpassivity (i.e., doing things not to achieve change, but to prevent it):
“...the first task today is precisely NOT to succumb to the temptation to act, to
directly intervene and change things (which then inevitably ends in a cul de sac of
[burnout]…), but to question the hegemonic ideological coordinates.”
Activity is never conducted in a neutral space. Rather it occurs within a certain
ruling class ideology.
“Those who ‘really want to do something to help people’ get involved in
(undoubtedly honorable) exploits…which are all not only tolerated, but even
supported by the [ruling class]...as long as they do not get too close to a certain
limit.”

38. Mutual Aid
● The radical dimension in Human-Centered Design: the human.
● Mutual aid is the radical act of caring for each other while
working to change the world.
● Building solidarity through survival work performed
alongside social movement demands for transformative
change.
● Useful framework in comparison to professionalized
Placemaking.

39. Mutual Aid vs. Charity (selected, abridged)
Mutual Aid
● De-professionalized
● Beg, borrow, steal
● Resists oversight and enforcement
● Open, anarchic and equal
● Unites by supporting those in crisis
● Unconditional support
● Anonymous
● No expectation of returns
● Self-determination
● Consensus-driven
● Success evaluated by those in crisis
● Political, intersectional
● Survival through abundant solidarity
Charity
● Professionalized
● Grants / philanthropy
● Conforms to law and regulations
● Closed, hierarchical
● Divides via imposed means-
testing
● Conditional behavior expected
● Onerous documentation
● Expectation of kick-back
● Dependency
● Maintains existing power
structure
● Assessed by opinions of an elite
● “Apolitical,” siloed, single-issue
● Publicity in a world of scarcity
From Ch. 4, “Some Dangers and Pitfalls of Mutual Aid.” Spade, D. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next). Verso: 2020.

40. Does the comparison of
characteristics of mutual aid versus
charity remind you of real-world
experiences you have had?
From Spade, D. Teaching Guide to Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next). Verso: 2020.
http://v.versobooks.com/Mutual_Aid_Teaching_Guide.pdf

41. place vs. Place
place:
● Held in common
● Site-specific, endemic
● Intrinsic to a specific cultural
public sphere
○ Indigenous, vernacular
● Not driven by the conditions of
economic land development
Place:
● Views space as commodity
● Global (placeless)
● Extrinsic to all cultures
● An extension of neoliberalism
○ A means by which the public
sphere is co-opted by capital

42. Authentic placemaking
● Camp Hope, an impoverished community
practicing solidarity through spontaneous
placemaking in the face of houselessness
○ Occupying WSDOT land in path of
NSC (making something from /
with nothing)
● A disturbance to the bureaucratic
regulatory framework resulting in
media-facilitated political theater
(including WSDOT, City of Spokane,
Spokane County Sheriff, Dept. of
Commerce, non-profits, etc.)

43. Agony & Irony
“Frankly, it would be far safer for
[the Dept. of] Commerce to simply
pay a year's worth of rent for the
estimated 600 people at the camp
than to allow this situation to
continue," Knezovich wrote.
"However, without implementing
treatment for the drug, alcohol and
mental health needs, any investment
would likely prove unsuccessful and
fall far short of helping those at the
camp out of poverty.”
— also Spokane County Sheriff,
Ozzie Knezovich

44. The Dialectic of
Acting Thoughtfully
If interpassivity is an unconscious ideological condition that leads to
failure and burnout, then I am a poster child for it.
Had I recognized that my desire to do good did not take place within a
neutral tabula rasa, I might have not only saved myself significant
heartache, but also acted far more effectively.
We must recognize that we live fully entrenched within an ideological
landscape that constrains thought and action.

45. The Courage of
Hopelessness
● That which seems impossible is
precisely what is needed.
● Highway 99, South Park, Seattle
● Alaskan Way Viaduct taken
down for the Seattle Waterfront

46. 14 lanes of barely crawling traffic leaving Burning Man.
Posted by Reddit user: u/NormalKook