The synthetic landscape formed by a vast network of concrete freeways is a powerful symbol of late twentieth-century urbanization. Through manifolding of their own relentless logic and engineered economies, freeways redefine the form and experience of the modern city (Webb 1994).

If one were to choose the two man-made structures that have had the greatest effect on the modern urban environment, it would most likely be the high-rise and the freeway. However, while oftentimes much theory and thought goes into the aesthetic, subjective and formal qualities of architecture, little such contemplation, if any, is applied to highway construction or to the subjective experience of the freeway. While architecture is sensitive to the surrounding community, the freeway virtually ignores the community.

The effect of the freeway on the city has been nothing short of tremendous; it has forever changed the cityscape and the way in which it is experienced. This report seeks to stress the importance of highway aesthetics, explore the issues related the design of the urban freeway and its effects on the urban environment and motorists alike, and consider methods and theories aimed at improving the design of and tempering the negative impacts of high-speed limited-access highways through urban areas.

This report will begin with an examination of both the physical and psychological consequences of the freeway on the urban environment. The history of highway beautification in America, from the first New York City parkways at century’s beginning to the “Freeway Revolt” of the 1960s and 1970s to the federal Enhancements programs of the 1990s, will also be surveyed, and particular attention will be paid to the current well-being of the highway aesthetics movement.

Several different methods and techniques aimed at improving the aesthetic condition of the urban freeway and reducing its effect on the surrounding community will be explored. These techniques will be classified into four major groups: aesthetic enhancements, such as billboard removal and landscaping; impact mitigation, such as soundwall construction or below-grade freeway construction; the integration of the freeway with other uses; and freeway removal. This report will look at these techniques, cite specific examples of these techniques in use, and note the drawbacks or difficulties in using them.

This report will then provide a detailed history and description of the I-35 Lake Place project in Duluth, Minnesota. This particular project, and the history and rationale behind it, is a good model of the issues and dynamics surrounding the conditions and perceptions of the urban freeway.

This report will conclude by presenting three major keys to solving the problem of urban freeway design: an increase in funding for highway beautification and impact mitigation projects, the implementation of a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to highway design, and the realization of an entirely new way of thinking about the highway itself that breaks ties with the decades-old understanding of highways as simply a means of carrying traffic.

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