Showdown in the Park

Not so long ago, U.S. highway builders simply picked the path of least resistance and let the concrete flow. They favored public parks because such land was cheaper and no relocation of people was needed before the bulldozers went to work. But things are changing fast: a grass-roots revolt is stopping highwaymen from freely paving the land --especially parks.

In Memphis, for example, conservationists howled in 1968 and 1969 when both the Johnson and Nixon Administrations' Transportation Secretaries (Alan S. Boyd and John A. Volpe) routinely approved a concrete invasion of the city's 342-acre Overton Park, which includes a zoo, golf course and wooded areas with footpaths. The Secretaries authorized federal funding for a 2.4-mile, six-lane section of Interstate 40. Though it was to have been built mostly below ground level, the road would have destroyed 26 acres of the park.

Led by the local Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society, the Memphis conservationists challenged both Secretaries' decisions in court. According to the 1966 Department of Transportation Act, they argued, federal funds may not be authorized for highway construction in parks if "feasible and prudent" alternative routes exist. Furthermore, such construction may proceed only if "all possible planning to minimize harm" has been undertaken. Neither Secretary, the plaintiffs claimed, heeded those requirements.

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the federal district court in Memphis to review the Secretaries' decisions and determine whether approval to build the highway in the park was "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law." Even if construction is eventually allowed, the Supreme Court's tough directive is a significant victory for conservationists. From now on, federal highway builders are more likely to consider environmental consequences.

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