CITY LIMITS by Megan Kimble is an excellent exploration of "Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways." Kimble, an investigative journalist and former executive editor at The Texas Observer, employs numerous relevant examples (e.g., I-35 in Austin, I-45 near Houston), and writes knowledgeably about this topic and its complexity. One of her key points concerns the progress that was promised with highway development sixty or more years ago. Instead, she points to how neighborhoods were separated or demolished and how highways themselves paradoxically led to longer commutes and more and more traffic. One case study that Kimble profiles is replacing the Inner Loop in Rochester, New York; she writes about community organizations, more parks and promises of revitalization. The epilogue, too, is a hopeful one, full of comments about the foresight of those who led the development of the mixed-income, mixed-use area that until 1999 was Austin's Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Kimble herself lives there now on "a street full of elementary school teachers and hospital nurses and social workers.." She is unwavering in her quest to encourage readers and planners to envision a different future that is less car-centric with fewer highways. Extensive notes comprise over twenty percent of this text. CITY LIMITS received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Not every day do you get to read about the roads you learned to drive on and currently drive every day. How many books are out there about the highways? I will frequently complain to friends about the destruction our highways have caused. Sure, there is environmental destruction (more concrete, less soil and plants, means more flooding), but the toll on individuals and communities significantly impacts.

Highlights of the book:
- What TXDot wants TXDot gets…those of us who have had to work with them know this.
- Most of the roads in TX were built in the MIDDLE of the last century.
- Texas accounts for a large percentage of carbon dioxide emissions, more than some countries,

These two are my new war cry:
- There is not a highway in the US that didn’t destroy or harm a Black or Hispanic community…all so white people could get home faster.
- The irony is that the bigger the highway, the more traffic.

So remember, when you sit in traffic, it is caused by white flight. This book was maddening, even though I knew how dire our highways were for communities and our lives, especially in Texas. This book will stay with me for a long time, and I won’t be surprised if I buy a physical copy to highlight and pull out to talk to people about it. I want EVERYONE who drives in this country to read this book.

What an excellent book “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality and the Future of America’s Highways” by Megan Kimble truly is! Kimble is originally from Austin but lived there as a child, and came back as an adult. Their description of how Austin was supposed to be so great but was so dependent on cars was interesting from the start. The book also began with a story of a Houston woman, her dream for a house and the threat of eminent domain to take it.

“City Limits” seamlessly weaves very current nationwide events with historical facts, and brings in individual stories from humans and those from the cities themselves. It’s predictable in how it adversely affects people of color and lower income and yet it is still infuriating. As someone who has spent a good deal of time in Houston and has also traveled to Dallas and Austin via car, the level of details and how TxDOT absolutely does not care about what the people think could not be more clear. It was also important and helpful to include how emissions and things from cars are affecting the planet and us - asthma, climate change and more.

“City Limits” is also a perfect complement to another recent publication - lPaved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World” by Henry Grabar. “City Limits” covers how we keep funding roads and expanding and taking down housing and our absolute dependence on cars. Then what do we do with it when we arrive? Park, which also has taken over housing opportunities. Read both and you will not be disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for the ArC!

This was a interesting concept overall, I thought this really told the story of transpiration and infrastructure in a unique and engaging way. I was hooked from the start of this book and learned a lot about this. It really was a fascinating read and I enjoyed the way Megan Kimble wrote this.