The Interstate Highway System: A Road Trip Through the Tri-State Areas Past, Present, and Future

In 2006, author and native New Yorker Robert Sullivan embarked on a road trip to explore how the way we move around impacts the places we live. As part of our 25th-anniversary celebration, we're republishing this formative magazine story from before our website launched. This story originally appeared in Dwell's September 2006 issue.

The interstate highway system is a complex web of roads that crisscrosses the United States, connecting cities and towns and shaping the way we live. But what does this vast network of roads have to do with the shape of our communities, the food in our fridges, and the social justice of our bus routes? These are the questions Sullivan set out to explore on his journey.

Sullivan's journey began in New York City, where he drove through streets once laid out for streetcars and horses but now dominated by cars. He then headed north on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278), also known as the BQE, a major artery in the New York City area. As he drove north toward the Bronx, he reached the beginning of what many road historians consider the first modern roadway—the Bronx River Parkway.

The Bronx River Parkway was built in 1907 and was once a bucolic experience, a trip along the banks of the Bronx River. Today, it still feels bucolic, but its small size is dwarfed by modern cars. Sullivan then drove through suburbs like Lakewood near Cleveland and Newton in Boston, which were set up along the first train lines out of an old downtown.

As he crossed into Connecticut, Sullivan followed the Hutchinson Parkway, which was built wider than the Bronx River Parkway in the 1930s due to the increasing number of road fatalities. The Hutchinson became the Merritt Parkway, which was built partly to relieve traffic on Route I, the oldest road from Boston to Philadelphia. The Merritt was also built to encourage real estate development: when property values were faltering, developers believed highways were the answer.

Sullivan stopped at a little stone house rest stop that is a National Register of Historic Places and bought coffee from Africa via Vermont. He then cruised north along the Merritt Parkway and cut through Westport, Connecticut, before reaching I-95, the longest north-to-south interstate at 1,927 miles long, passing from Maine to Florida. The rest stops along I-95 are some of the loneliest places in the world.

As Sullivan arrived in Guilford, he met with Dolores Hayden, a professor of architecture and American studies at Yale. Hayden is an expert on modern road-inspired building and the author of books such as Redesigning the American Dream and Building Suburbia. She pointed out that even with the presence of I-95 nearby, Guilford Green remains an important part of people's lives.

On his walk around Guilford, Sullivan saw how roads have shaped and continue to shape our communities. The concrete overpass of I-95 looms over Guilford Green, but it doesn't dominate it. The green is a focal point for community life in Guilford, with high school graduations held there and an agricultural fair in the fall.

Sullivan's journey showed how the interstate highway system has transformed our country's physical landscape and how it continues to impact our daily lives. From the bustling streets of New York City to the quiet suburbs of Connecticut, roads have shaped our communities and continue to do so today.