This just in: sprawl is ugly

One would hope that a highway with the lofty designation US Route One would have some special qualities. 

And one would be disappointed.  Check out a terrific slide show (it's under 3 minutes) narrated by Kevin Fry, the president of Scenic America, and hosted on the New York Times web site.  His observation is that, far from being special, many of the views that the road offers in Maryland are both emotionally deadening and exactly like other disheartening views all over America.  The very telling photography, including the images above, is by the Times's Angel Franco.

Accompanying the slide show is a a very good article, "A Place Just Like Every Other Place.  Only Not," by Times writer Dan Barry:

"The wandering continues, along U.S. Route 1 now, the old East Coast byway that hurries and halts for 2,000 miles from Maine to Florida. And a familiar sensation returns: We have never been here before, but we have been here before.

"To the left, the Wendy’s, like a gingerbread house from a child’s nightmare. To the right, the Burger King, like a highway restroom that sells hamburgers. And everywhere, the billboards and neon . . . "

Sure sounds familiar to me.  Read the entire piece here.

Scenic America is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the visual character of America's communities and countryside.  NRDC's smart growth program has collaborated with them often, one way or another.