Bill Haltom lives just a block from Overton Park. He is an award-winning columnist for the Tennessee USA Today Network, and the author of 8 books ranging in topics from seersucker to civility.
50 years ago this week, on March 2,1971, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe. The case involved the proposed construction of Interstate 40 through Overton Park, a 342 acre old forest and public park in the center of midtown Memphis.
In 1956, Congress had passed the National Interstate Highway Act, the largest public works project in American history, authorizing $26 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of a national highway system.