Highway to Nowhere

Art Action and Civic Engagement
Yesterday, my fellow Master's candidates and I met with MACA alum Ashley Milburn ('07) to talk about his on-going work with the 'Highway to Nowhere'. The project is centered on the "multi-mile stretch of Route 40 between Martin Luther King Jr. , Boulevard and the West Baltimore MARC station that dead-ends in the middle of the city". Ashley is currently working with community residents to transform the space into the East Coast's largest mural space that would employ thousands of artists and city-residents and revitalize the community of W. Baltimore potentially drawing tourists from around the globe.

The History of the Highway
"Before its completion in 1979, the highway displaced thousands of residents and more than 700 homes, schools, hospitals and small businesses, disrupting life in the black community [of W. Baltimore]. The original plan called for the highway to connect with Interstate 70. Instead, it simply cuts off after about a mile and quite literally goes nowhere."
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/baltimore/focus_areas/community_fellowship/case_studies/milburn_2007