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Highway 61 correspondence and documents, 1968-1974

1970-06-30 Fort Madison Branch, NAACP to Federal Highway Administration, Equal Opportunity Administration Page 1

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Fort Madison, Branch OF THE National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Fort Madison, Iowa 52627 720 - 7th Street June 30,1970 Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Equal Opportunity Division 1717 H Street N.W. Washington, D.C. Dear Sirs; As Branch Administrative Secretary of the Fort Madison, Iowa, Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, I wish to register a Complaint with your agency the City of Fort Madison and the Iowa Highway Commission with regards to their proposed re-routing of Highway 61 through the city of Fort Madison. The reasons for the complaint are as follows: 1. The planned re-routing of Highway 61, through the city of Fort Madison will not be an improvement as far as the total community is concerned, or for those who have to travel it. The city of Fort Madison, is four (4) miles long and is extremely unpleasant to drive through, at this time. Re-routing the highway through the city is not a progressive move. Burlington and Keokuk, which lie to the north and the south of Fort Madison, and have larger populations, have already been by-passed by Highway 61. 2. The corridor which has been chosen for the Highway relocation, follows the tradition of disrupting minority group neighborhoods. Those affected will be Blacks, Mexican-Americans and low-income Whites. Chosen because it is the "cheapest" area of the town, it is this way because the citizens of this area have been systematically denied the privilege of living in other areas of the community. 3. Although there are substandard homes in the area, there are many that are decent, and the worst homes are not the ones which are going to be used by the Highway. Many of these people, have been
 
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