Sacramento City Council expected to vote on project to study changes to Highway 160
SACRAMENTO – The City of Sacramento is ready to reimagine Highway 160 and even consider turning it into a boulevard.
The highway was built in 1955 to connect downtown Sacramento with Business 80. Critics blame it for cutting off north Sacramento from the rest of the city, leaving investment there at a dead end.
"It speaks to a harm done, literally decades ago, that took away access for an entire community," Sacramento City Councilmember Roger Dickinson said.
Dickinson is working to make changes to the freeway and reverse the highway harm.
"Where there today are bridges over a freeway, imagine if the freeway became more like a boulevard and those became cross streets," Dickinson said.
CBS13 has reported on the blight lining north Sacramento's Del Paso Boulevard for years.
The city's own staff reports show that when o n Highway 160 was constructed, businesses located in and around Del Paso Boulevard lost customers. Many buildings today are empty.
Now Sacramento is seeking to right a wrong turn in traffic management.
"I'm not sure anyone would have foreseen what we now live with today," Dickinson said.
The city council is expected to vote Tuesday on a $1 million project to study the changes it could make to Highway 160. That money comes from federal funding.
