Intended Date of Award

2013

Degree Name

Doctorate in Public Administration (DPA)

Chair

Dr. Kristen Norman Major

Vice-Chair

Dr. Lou Kaluza

Committee Member

Dr. James Bonilla

Abstract

In 1959, the Minnesota Department of Highways (MHD), renamed the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) in 1976, commenced the construction of Interstate 35W proceeding North from Richfield through South Minneapolis to Lake Street (the Richfield-Minneapolis segment) which razed more than 50 square blocks of homes and businesses. The segment of this vast project built between Stevens Avenue South and Second Avenue South, completed in 1967, was part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways enacted by Congress in 1956. An area contiguous to the Interstate 35W project was located from Stevens Avenue South on the West, to Nicollet Avenue on the East, North to East 38th Street and South to East 42nd Street is identified as the researcher's 'Study Area'. This community was known as an African-American 'middle-class' neighborhood in Minneapolis. Although Minneapolis's neighborhoods have changed in names and locations over time, and African-American citizens have populated areas to the North, South, and East of the study area, these geographic boundaries are the focus of this research project. The advent of Interstate highways brought enormous change to the state of Minnesota and its inhabitants. On one hand, the Interstate created safer, faster road transportation, transformed many communities and ignited economic development. On the other hand, the interstate left some communities mauled in economic chaos and fragmentation.

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

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