page_title: Sam Cooper Boulevard
section_title: Revitalization attempts
hierarchical_section_title: Sam Cooper Boulevard / History / 21st century / Revitalization attempts
caption_attribution_description: English: Broad Avenue in the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee.
context_page_description: Sam Cooper Boulevard is an urban highway in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The more recent western segment of the road follows a parkway design, the older eastern portion which was proposed and constructed as a segment of Interstate 40 is built as a freeway, without at-grade intersections and traffic lights. The western terminus of Sam Cooper Boulevard is at East Parkway North. At the western termination point of the road there is a short concurrency of East Parkway North with U.S. Route 64, U.S. Route 70, and U.S. Route 79. From its western end, Sam Cooper Boulevard continues east for 5.8 miles to reach its eastern terminus at the Interstate 40/Interstate 240 interchange.
  The road was originally planned in the 1950s. It was proposed as a segment of I-40 that would intersect the center of Memphis and continue west to Arkansas. The proposed route would have cut through Overton Park, an old forest public park in Memphis. Following a United States Supreme Court decision in 1971 the route was revised, I-40 was routed around Memphis in the north and plans of routing an Interstate highway through the city were abandoned.
context_section_description: In 2006, citizens from the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis voiced concerns about negative effects that the completion of the western portion of Sam Cooper Boulevard has had on the community. Claims were made that construction of the road between North Highland Street and East Parkway North cut the Binghampton area in half by creating "high-speed traffic" and "confusing traffic patterns". It was mentioned that the routing of Sam Cooper Boulevard to the south of Broad Avenue had "effectively made" the circa 1.4 miles (2.3 km) long stretch of Broad Avenue a "ghost town", creating vacant lots in the partly industrial area and an unsafe neighborhood.
  The Memphis Flyer cites Robert Montague, executive director of the Binghampton Development Corporation: "When they built Sam Cooper, this area really got buried". Citizens suggested changes in the zoning and a re-design of the Broad Avenue area north of Sam Cooper Boulevard and south of Summer Avenue to re-vitalize that part of the neighborhood and attract business and residents. The following year, trees and shrubs were planted alongside Sam Cooper Boulevard and in the median west of North Highland Street. A few decorative flowerbeds were also installed in the median of the road to enhance the parkway design of the road.
caption: Broad Avenue (2010)
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