Interstate construction during the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Alabama

Affected community The communities that existed prior to building I-85 were named Centennial Hill, Bel Air and The Bottoms. The houses in these communities were determined to be of very low value and each of the affected home owners, were given "$3,300" for their homes, There were 164 houses listed in "fair" to good" condition that were homes to African American middle class. These residents were doctors, teachers, coaches, and lawyers. There were also other African American communities that were destroyed with the construction of I-65 as well. Even today, the interstates separate the West side of the community and prevents the minority community from building closer inwards. Where the Montgomery Improvement Association founding location, the original Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Montgomery, Alabama, Carlton McClendon Furniture Co. were both abandoned. Croskery's porch had housing across the street but now faces only the interstate. Glass street with wooden Shotgun housing, Chilton Street and Minto street were all destroyed to make room for the interstate There were protests between Ann Street and the Interchange between the two interstates, ==Affected citizens==

After construction was completed, C. B. Croskery, a member of the clergy who had lived on Stone Street since 1955, said in an interview: "They sent out a letter saying they wanted to pave the highway and next thing I knew, they were out there digging up a whole line of houses on the other side of the street". Skip Jackson, a resident of Carlisle Street, recalled watching the start of construction when he was in Second Grade. "I can remember the day they brought the big earthmovers out there, We knew it was coming. When the people who owned their homes started to move, we knew that was coming. Just like any neighborhood that's poor, you don't argue. All it did for us was kill our neighborhood." C. R. Williams said that he "was unaware of the state's planned route through his neighborhood." He had been told a year earlier that the interstate would run north of Oak Park instead. == Original construction planning ==

According to the original plans the interstate was to travel through the downtown business district and have exits to several of the local industrial and business sites. I-65 is to pass through the city in a north to south direction and will start down in Mobile, Alabama at Interstate 10 and travel "northeasterly" via Evergreen and Greenville through Montgomery to Birmingham, Cullman, and Decatur into Tennessee and beyond. The north–south route planned will cross the southern bypass near the city sewerage treatment plant, then Fairview Avenue, at an interchange section east of the Barber Dairy plant, running parallel to Holt Street to its intersection with I-85 just southwest of the intersection of Holt and Day Streets. After crossing Bell Street the route crosses the railroad and the Alabama River and will have an interchange with the North Montgomery Belt route on the river peninsula before crossing Cobb's Ford Road west of the junction with Millbrook Road and crossing county line from Montgomery County into Autauga County. This section alone is estimated to cost around $17 million. I-85 is to start at an intersection of I-65, and continue from there to Auburn, Opelika, and Lanett and then to Atlanta and other eastern locations. Starting at the Day and Holt Street intersection with Interstate 65 and continuing eastward through the city, it is to run mostly parallel to Donaldson Street, crossing Virginia Avenue and following a line almost parallel to and just south of U.S. Highway 80. == Newspaper coverage ==

Karl Portera at The Montgomery Advertiser labeled building the two interstates as having the potential to make the Montgomery area a "major metropolitan center of south-central Alabama". Sam Engelardt stated "not only serve the communities traffic needs, but is a very important factor in shaping future municipal and economic growth in urban areas." Construction had already started in rural Alabama for both routes, some already have pedestrians driving on the finished, but not connected roads. The finished interstates are expected to bring an estimated 50,000 vehicles or higher by 1975 daily. Bringing them directly through the center of the downtown business district and have access to several local industrial and business sites. == References ==