After the 1960s into the 1980s, Missouri shifted its interest from expanding highways in rural and primary areas to urban areas. To quote an article made by the Missouri Department of Transportation, “In addition, the construction of urban interstate highways frequently led to the destruction of vibrant, working-class neighborhoods in both St. Louis and Kansas City. Interstate construction disproportionately affected poor, ethnic residents in urban areas. Highway planners wanted to keep costs low, so they designed roads that went through depressed neighborhoods where property values were low and right of way could be acquired cheaply.” (Missouri Department of Transportation, 2006). Minority neighborhoods were deeply affected and citizens were furious. When looking at the assigned area of East 13th Street and Truman Road along Troost Avenue, there’s not a robust residential area. The building of I-70 in my assigned area, explained a lot as to what I saw when going to my assigned area around East 13th Street and Truman Road, the area near 70 highway; it was extremely underdeveloped. There were plots of land that were vacant with a few businesses not open to the general public like All Services Home Healthcare and a General Parts store. Being downtown and near the Salvation Army and The City Union Mission, there were quite a few of homeless people. Little to no housing was in sight, The total population of the assigned area in the U.S. Census tract 154 of Jackson County was 5,847 out of a total population of 459,787 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).
