On the last day of school as the pandemic went on, it took me 35 minutes to drive home to Pasadena during peak traffic hour. This 20-mile journey usually lasts a little bit shy of 2 hours and I have never experienced this before.
What went wrong in the development of interstates?

When I first moved to the United States from South Korea, the dependency on driving was striking. All major cities and states were connected with gigantic highway systems and people drove everywhere. This obsession over cars is highly visible in Los Angeles, a city with one of the worst traffics in the nation. I still drive occasionally for essential needs and every time I drive, I just notice how big these highways are. For example, the 10 freeway is one of the busiest and heavily used freeways on LA and it has 5 lanes on both sides, for every ten miles that’s at least 6.5 million square feet of space, which is enough to fit 2,437 average-sized homes. Even though the freeway seems to be getting bigger, traffic seems to get worse every year.

Since when I was little, I was really into cars. I drew cars for my entire life and even went to Art Center College of Design to take transportation design classes. With my research, I wish to explore how automobiles have shaped our infrastructure and American culture. And how major corporations have changed our perception of cars in today’s world.