Watching The Traffic Go By: Transportation And Isolation In Urban America

00a-T3917-FM 10/31/06 2:15 PM Page i watching the traffic go by THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00a-T3917-FM 10/31/06 2:15 PM Page iii watching the traffic go by Transportation and Isolation in Urban America ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ paul mason fotsch university of texas press, austin 00a-T3917-FM 10/31/06 2:15 PM Page iv copyright © 2007 by the university of texas press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2007 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819 www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html  The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of  ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper). library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Fotsch, Paul Mason, 1965– Watching the traffic go by : transportation and isolation in urban America / Paul Mason Fotsch. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-292-71425-0 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-292-71425-4 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-13: 978-0-292-71426-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-292-71426-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Transportation engineering—United States. 2. City and town life— United States. 3. Popular culture—United States. I. Title. ta1023.f68 2006 388.40973— dc22 2006008602 00a-T3917-FM 10/31/06 2:15 PM Page v dedicated to the bus riders of urban america THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00a-T3917-FM 10/31/06 2:15 PM Page vii contents a c k n owl e d gme nt s ix i n t r o du c t ion : Stabilizing Mobility 1 part 1. transportation as antidote to modern city 11 chapter 1. The Trolley, the Automobile, and Autonomy 13 chapter 2. Townless Highways and Highwayless Towns 37 part 2. german critical theory meets american cartopia 61 chapter 3. The Building of a Superhighway Future at the New York World’s Fair 63 chapter 4. Film Noir and the Hidden Violence of Transportation in Los Angeles 93 part 3. the public’s fears of urban gridlock 119 Stories of the MTA: Contesting Meanings of Subway chapter 5. Space 121 chapter 6. Urban Freeway Stories: Racial Politics and the Armored Automobile 159 e p i l og ue notes 187 195 works cited index 229 207 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 00a-T3917-FM 10/31/06 2:15 PM Page ix acknowledgments Individual responsibility is a powerful myth, but most of us recognize that individuals are a product of community. This project was fifteen years in the making, and I thank the thousands who have contributed to my understanding of urban space. Here I will name but a few. Great teachers are often underrecognized among academics, and I have had many. They include Michael Forster, Marshall Sahlins, George Steinmetz, Marilyn Ivy, Dan Schiller, Herb Schiller, Andrew Goodwin, Val Hartouni, Tom Long, John Caldwell, and especially Moishe Postone, who taught me most of what little I know about the Frankfurt School. The University of California at San Diego provided a diverse community of activists and intellectuals. Groundwork Bookstore and the Communication Department had their share of both. Friends and colleagues from my time at UCSD who carried me through the bogs include Sharla Blank, Jackie Romo, Mary Garbesi, Rick Bonus, Sarah Banet-Weiser, Mari Castañeda Peredes, Dee Dee Halleck, Keith Pezzoli, Michael Schudson, David Ryfe, and Susan Sterne. Suzanne Thomas, Corynne McSherry, Tamera Marko, and Marita Sturken generously commented on various chapter drafts. While I was at Arizon