Highway revolt

Highway revolts (also freeway revolts, expressway revolts, or road protests) are organized protests against the planning or construction of highways, freeways, expressways, and other civil engineering projects that favor motor vehicles. Many freeway revolts took place in developed countries during the 1960s and 1970s, in response to plans for the construction of new freeways, as advocated for by the highway lobby. A significant number of these highways were abandoned or significantly scaled back due to widespread public opposition, especially of those whose neighborhoods would be disrupted or displaced by the proposed freeways, and due to various other negative effects that freeways are considered to have. Freeway revolts have gained renewed interest in the 21st century, with activists pushing to bury highways underground or remove freeways from cities to repair the damage to neighborhoods displaced by highway construction in the 20th century. While anti-freeway/anti-road activism in Australia has not been as vocal as in North America, small-scale revolts against freeway construction have occurred in Sydney and Melbourne, with many protesting toll collection. Melbourne saw protests against the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan, mostly by those in the impacted inner-city areas. In 1974, 150 residents protesting plans for the F-19 freeway through Collingwood put themselves in front of construction equipment in an attempt to halt construction. In 1978, protesters rallied to defend Gardiners Creek in Kooyong, which was in the path of the South Eastern Freeway. In 1984, over 100 protesters rallied against the widening of Punt Road to become the Hoddle Highway. Many of the unbuilt freeways were eventually cancelled by change of government, but some projects were later resurrected. An umbrella organisation known as the Coalition Against Freeway Expansion (CAFE) was formed in 1994, and in the following year, 14 of its activists were arrested whilst protesting an Eastern Freeway extension and the partial demolition of Alexandra Parade.