by Laura Hunt Miller
As Ruston considers long-term improvement plans, I heard a familiar old ghost of civic planning making the rounds.
For generations, the prevailing wisdom has been: if you let a highway bypass your town, your town will die. That belief took root in the 1950s and 60s, when the interstate system cut new ribbons of asphalt across the country. Many small towns, unprepared for the change, lost their passing trade almost overnight.
But it wasn’t the bypass alone that killed towns; it was fragile, one-pony economies, the mid-century migration to spacious, pool-side suburbia, and advances in modern vehicles.
In the early days of highway travel, cars couldn’t go far without stopping. Trips were slower, and roadside towns offered the only dining, lodging, and refueling options. Stopping in town was part of the trip experience, and many economies came to rely heavily on that passing trade.
Today, it’s different. Cars travel hundreds of miles between stops, gas stations line the interstate, and travelers armed with podcasts, GPS, and screens for their kids rarely detour downtown. Thriving towns depend on diversified local economies, repeat local customers, and intentional tourism strategies.
18-wheelers that rumble down Vienna Street aren’t stopping for lunch or shopping. And they leave behind noise, fumes, and safety challenges. Diesel trucks can hit up to 90 decibels. “Jake brakes” can spike above 100 dB, rivaling a jackhammer. Prolonged exposure to 70 dB and above causes stress, poor sleep, and reduces outdoor activity. Diesel exhaust is also a confirmed carcinogen, tied to cancer, asthma and heart disease.
Because Vienna Street is also a federally designated highway corridor, Ruston is locked into design rules that create significant hurdles for events and beautification projects. Heavy truck traffic also makes streets feel unsafe, discouraging families and visitors from spending more time, or money, downtown.
Other communities have shown what’s possible when heavy truck traffic moves out.
- Greenville, SC replaced a highway bridge in 2004 with a pedestrian span, reconnecting downtown to the local river, sparking a tourism and real estate boom.
- Oxford, MS used “Complete Streets” design to make its core safer and more inviting, attracting more young people to Ole Miss and more long-term residents to the area.
- Bastrop, TX implemented walkable street codes that protect its historic charm while encouraging sustainable growth.
Ruston has the same opportunity if a bypass for 167 is built, and it is done right. That means choosing a route that causes the least harm, designing it so truckers prefer it to downtown streets, protecting affected communities with buffers, and pairing it with a downtown investment plan.
If a bypass was going to kill Ruston, it would have happened decades ago when I-20 pulled the larger volume of travelers away from downtown. We survived, and grew. The real danger isn’t in building a bypass, it’s in letting outdated fears keep us tied to a system that handicaps city planning, and puts freight convenience ahead of our community’s quality of life.
So, if someone tells you, “A bypass will kill your town!” ask them to show you a single scientific study from the last 50 years that proves it. They’ll be hard-pressed, because modern data shows that only already-weak economies overly dependent on pass-through traffic are harmed. Strong, diversified economies like Ruston are not, especially when paired with smart, intentional planning.
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About the author: Laura Hunt Miller holds degrees in Art and Architecture from Louisiana Tech University and a graduate certificate in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is passionate about community planning, historic downtowns, and strategies for creating vibrant, livable places.
