FREEDOM TO MOVE GRASSROOTS SPOTLIGHT: ALLENDALE STRONG

The document details the historical and ongoing struggle of the Allendale neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, against urban highway expansion. It describes how past projects like I-20 and I-49 contributed to racial segregation and population decline in Black communities. The text focuses on the 'zombie freeway'—the I-49 Inner City Connector (I-49 ICC)—which was revived in 2009 and threatens to displace homes and further harm the Allendale community. In response, the Allendale Strong initiative and its 'Loop-It' project have used technical modeling, legal action, and coalitions like the Freeway Fighters Network to challenge the project and propose an alternative that prioritizes wealth-building streets and multimodal transit over highway capacity expansion.

• The construction of I-20 and I-49 in Shreveport during the 1950s and 1960s led to the destruction of Black settlements and significant population loss in core neighborhoods; for example, Allendale's population fell from 34,600 in 1959 to 16,000 by 1970, eventually dropping to 3,700 by 2020 due to the threat of I-49.
• The I-49 Inner City Connector (I-49 ICC), a project revived in 2009 after being terminated in 1997, is a less-than-four-mile urban freeway that threatens the loss of 2,300 homes (based on 1970-2000 data) and continues to negatively impact over 100 remaining households in Allendale through devastated property values and air quality, safety, and economic harms.
• Allendale Strong and its 'Loop-It' initiative have challenged the I-49 ICC by using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain and debunk the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments' (NLCOG) travel demand model, arguing that its employment growth assumptions accelerate city depopulation.
• Allendale Strong proposes a shift in transportation planning to prioritize city master plans and community values over engineering values, advocating for 'wealth-building streets' and a 'Loop-It' alternative that routes traffic to the existing I-220 loop instead of through the neighborhood.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2024). FREEDOM TO MOVE GRASSROOTS SPOTLIGHT: ALLENDALE STRONG. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/freedom-to-move-shreveport.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. FREEDOM TO MOVE GRASSROOTS SPOTLIGHT: ALLENDALE STRONG. 2024. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/freedom-to-move-shreveport.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=FREEDOM TO MOVE GRASSROOTS SPOTLIGHT: ALLENDALE STRONG |date=October 2024 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/freedom-to-move-shreveport.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2024freedom, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{FREEDOM TO MOVE GRASSROOTS SPOTLIGHT: ALLENDALE STRONG}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/freedom-to-move-shreveport.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }