EXHIBITS
(In) The Road of Progress: The West Side and I-15: The West Side Community After
The West Side Community After the Interstate
The West Side Community After the Interstate
State and local government agencies razed just under 10 percent of the west side’s residential and industrial buildings in order to make a path for the interstate.[1] That impact shaped the west side for years to come as residents responded to the freeway as a permanent concrete shadow over their community.
Population Shifts
Population shifts through the decades following the construction of the freeway saw population density directly along the interstate grow at a much slower rate than communities on the east side.[2]
People’s Freeway Inc.
To help combat some of the displacement of people and destruction of the landscape, community groups like Progress Unlimited, the Guadalupe Center, and the People’s Freeway Inc. created programs to help those who had been affected by the construction of I-15 through their communities.
This program included home construction and repair and building community gardens as a way to alleviate poverty in the area. [3]
Endnotes:
[1] Brad Westwood, “Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Pioneer Park Neighborhood Developments,” Department of Cultural & Community Engagement, accessed June 1, 2023, https://community.utah.gov/twentieth-and-twenty-first-century-pioneer-park-neighborhood-developments/
[2] Utah Department of Highways, Salt Lake Area Transportation Study, Salt Lacke City, Utah, 1972, 10-11.
[3] “Staffer to Gain New House,” The Salt Lake Tribune, January 31, 1974; Paul Swenson, “Whitewash? Hogwash! This Plan’s For Real,” Deseret News, October 14, 1971; “Transportation Commission Honors Peoples Freeway Inc Garden Project,” Salt Lake Times, December 19, 1975.