A modest proposal to beautify America . . .

We’re all for cutting down the numbers of highway miles we need to drive every day. So for us, if you’re floating the idea of blowing up a bunch of crappy and crumbling urban Interstates---hey, we’re all over that like a cheap suit. Whether it’s for safety reasons, or for economic redevelopment, or just because we’d rather look at dirt roads and tree-lined streets while we’re stuck in traffic instead of tons of elevated rebar and concrete, there are certainly no shortage of highways out there in need of modernizing, vitalizing . . . or tons of dynamite, take your pick.

Our friends over at Jalopnik today link to an urban studies site that suggests the Top 10 Highways to be Demolished in America. Which got us thinking: What roads would we like to see torn down? And how about you?

So, what are the crappiest corridors in your area, and what would you like to see demolished? Criteria for demolition can include safety (Seattle’s creaky Alaskan Highway Viaduct [pictured]---downright creepy if you’ve ever been on it), urban blight or economic impact (elevated Interstate 64 carving up the middle of an otherwise-very-cool downtown Louisville waterfront), or something you'd like to see blasted to smithereens because . . . well, just because you’d like to see it blown up!

For us here in SoCal, the entire 49-mile length of the 405 Freeway has been the object of many a staff Revenge Fantasy over the years. But for sheer ugliness, we’ll give the nod to the 710 corridor from Long Beach to downtown LA---a genuinely soul-robbing ride, and most days, scary as hell if you're driving anything smaller than a Freightliner. What are your most wretched roads?