#10: Boston’s Inner Belt and the Beginning of a Movement
Before Boston became known for the Big Dig, it nearly became known for a different kind of highway transformation. The Inner Belt would have carved through parts of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and surrounding communities, threatening thousands of homes and businesses. Residents organized, students joined in, local leaders shifted positions, and the anti-highway movement gained force at exactly the moment many American cities were beginning to question urban expressway building. In 1972, Massachusetts canceled the Inner Belt and related highway plans.
