In The Road to Inequality, Nall examines how the post-1945 development of the American federal highway system led to political polarization between (Republican-leaning) suburbs and (Democratic-leaning) cities and, in turn, how that geographically based polarization influenced transit policy, stunted the mobility of poor and working-class urbanites, and “undermined cities.”
Nall’s findings are straightforward: (1) Postwar highway construction facilitated outward metropolitan growth into previously rural areas; (2) those who left for the suburbs were disproportionately Republican, especially in rapid-growth metropolitan areas in the South; (3) as Republican suburban growth increased, partisan geographical divisions between cities and suburbs did, too; (4) decisions about highway placement and metropolitan transportation devolved to state and metropolitan planning boards, which leaned heavily Republican; (5) the result was more funding for highways (disproportionately used by suburbanites) at the expense of mass transit (disproportionately used by urbanites); and (6) these investment priorities stunted the physical (and thus...