U.S.A. Unlike most Democrats, Norquist opposes Federal money for housing, highways, education and welfare. The money is virtually free, so cities take it. Cities like Detroit, St. Louis and Cleveland lost people and neighborhoods to interstate highways, Norquist says. In Milwaukee, which is surrounded by highways going every direction, the black section of the city and the old Italian neighborhoods were wiped out by highway construction in the 1960's, he says. Shopping centers and a sizeable part of the metropolitan area's people followed the highways west, north and south.
Sprawl is the direct result of accommodating the automobile.
Other urban experts say suburban development is the price for creating the world's first mass middle class. The highway follows public sentiment, they argue. Norquist says he is not against all highways, just those that slice up cities. He points to Canada, where its central Government does not pay for urban highways, and cities like Vancouver and Toronto have responded with a mix of transportation systems that preserve their neighborhoods. Nor is he against the suburbs, where nearly half of all Americans now live.