Since the tragic effects in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana black community has been taking it one day at a time to rebuild their foundation.

Now it seems there may be a new threat to their current way of life … but this time, it isn’t a natural disaster.

Streetsblog USA reports that Shreveport, Louisiana Mayor Ollie Tyler joined other public officials to cast a vote in favor of bulldozing a section of the city's Allendale neighborhood in order to make room for a three-and-a-half mile connector highway.

This vote was controversial because Allendale is a predominantly lower-income black neighborhood.

The Shreveport area actually seen has a strong history of racial tensions, particularly in Caddo and Bossier County.

According to an Equal Justice Initiative report, there were 48 reported African American victim lynches in Caddo and 26 in Bossier between the years of 1877-1950.

There is also a history of destroying poor and black urban areas to build expressways. St. Louis saw a urban renewal boom after World War II. Detroit gutted its black communities around the same time.

Cities that have taken similar actions more recently, such as Boston, New Orleans, Dallas, and Milwaukee have publicly regretted their decisions, with Milwaukee and Boston removing freeways that had been built, according to the Shreveport Times. 

Critics of Shreveport's decision point to these cities as places lessons should be drawn from.

But proponents of the move say there is nothing to worry about.

Taimerica Management Company's economic development consultants presented the city with a report that claimed building a $700 million freeway between I-20 and I-49 (which, runs right through Allendale) would essentially save the local economy.

The report states that the highway would host approximately 3,600 cars daily, and would produce 30,000 new jobs and $800 million in economic “benefits.”

Providence Engineering transportation consultants backed up Taimerica's claims, and the local chamber of commerce urged Tyler and the other public officials to vote in favor of the bulldozing.

The people's whose homes would fall under the plan called for the opposite.

“I don’t want to live under or by a freeway,” Allendale resident Dorothy Wiley told Streetsblog. “For me, no freeway should be coming through any community.”

Wiley evacuated New Orleans after Katrina to find refuge in Allendale. Though her house isn’t directly in the bulldozing path, she still fully opposes the vote for the good of the community.

Even before talk of destroying part of the community arose, Allendale was losing souls. The past few decades has seen the city's population decline. Currently, it is home to about 200,000 citizens.

“They always want to find a black community to bring it through,” said Wiley, who has been fighting alongside her group against the highway project alongside for years. “These people been living there 50, 60 years, they don’t want to be uprooted.”

According to the Shreveport Times, the final vote on the project will be held at the end of next year.