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Highway Harms: In Virginia cities, rising health risks from interstate traffic

August 16, 2024 Guest User

Urban geographer Johnny Finn points to majority Black neighborhoods whose inhabitants' health are negatively impacted by living near interstates and major roads. Photo by Elizabeth McGowan // VCIJ at WHRO 

On a Norfolk map, St. Paul’s Boulevard appears as a north-south arterial. But local urban geographer Johnny Finn views that same six-lane strip near Interstate 264 as a stark line of disparity.

Life expectancy is 85 years for people living downtown and in adjacent upscale, whiter west side neighborhoods, according to Finn’s research. It drops by more than two decades — to 61.5 — in poor majority-Black census tracts to the east dominated by three public housing complexes.

“This is the cumulative impact of a century of racist housing policies and practices,” said Finn, an associate professor at Christopher Newport University. He called the finding “one of the most shocking juxtapositions” in his study of southeastern Virginia, because it amounted to taking “literal years off of life.”

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In Health, Social Justice Tags Black neighborhoods, pollution, red lining

In Richmond, a struggle over the future of a ‘Harlem of the South’

July 16, 2024 Guest User

Civil rights activist and local historian, Gary Flowers, points out how the construction of I-95 in the 1950’s demolished and separated the vibrant and bustling Black neighborhood of Jackson Ward in Richmond, VA, to travel magazine editors Leroy Adams and Marie Adams, at right, during a tour on Friday, July 12th. Photo by Christopher Tyree // VCIJ at WHRO

The historic Black neighborhood of Jackson Ward was intentionally split by highway development in the 1950s. Generations later, could a plan to reconnect the north and south sides renew a community?

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In Social Justice, State Government Tags Black neighborhoods, eminent domain

In Norfolk, broken neighborhoods and broken trust 

April 25, 2024 Guest User

Zenobia Wilson stands outside of her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. Her life has been disrupted by plans to reconnect her old, isolated community with the city. Photo by Christopher Tyree. // VCIJ

A $1.6 million federal grant could unscramble the I-264 ramps in downtown Norfolk. But would it reopen an isolated, Black community?

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In Social Justice, Economy Tags Black neighborhoods

Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities

March 14, 2024 Guest User

Christopher Newport University’s campus displaced a Black neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia. Photo by Christopher Tyree/VCIJ at WHRO

The groundbreaking commission, which was proposed in response to our “Uprooted” series, would consider compensation for dislodged property owners and their descendants. Whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the bill is unclear.

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In Education, State Government, Social Justice Tags eminent domain, Christopher Newport University, Black neighborhoods

Lawmaker Seeks Study, Relief for Black Communities Uprooted by Virginia Universities

January 17, 2024 Guest User

Following an investigation by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO and ProPublica, Del. Delores McQuinn introduces bill for a commission to investigate the displacement of Black neighborhoods by Virginia’s public colleges and universities

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In Education, State Government, politics Tags Christopher Newport University, Black neighborhoods, eminent domain

Norfolk has a plan to save itself from rising seas. For many, it’s a $2.7 billion mystery

December 17, 2023 Guest User

From Left: Sharon Endrick, President of the Campostella Civic League, and Kim Sudderth, a community activist, at the edge of the Elizabeth River under the Berkley Bridge with the skyline of the City of Norfolk Friday afternoon, December 15, 2023. Residents of the Southside neighborhoods were furious to learn their communities, with predominantly Black populations, would not get the same floodwall protections as downtown Norfolk. Photo by Bill Tiernan // VCIJ at WHRO

Norfolk, where the land is sinking and seas are rising faster than anywhere else on the Atlantic coast, is the first city in the U.S. to move forward with a coastal storm risk management plan under a 2015 Army Corps of Engineers strategy.

The two groups at opposite ends of the political and economic hierarchy each felt betrayed by a lack of transparency from federal and city officials about the largest infrastructure project in Norfolk’s history, one that will dramatically transform the city.

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In Environment, Social Justice, Housing Tags Sea Wall, Sea level rise, flooding, Black neighborhoods

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