For more than 20 years, chambers of commerce and transportation departments have been planning a highway that would reach across the United States from Canada to Mexico, cutting through Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Much more than another line on a map, Interstate 69 has the potential to crucially shift the lives of those people living along its route–some for the better, and some for the worse. Matt Dellinger's ambitious debut book takes a comprehensive look at the impact the highway would have on the local communities surrounding it and on the country as a whole.

About the book:

Part history, part travelogue, Interstate 69 reveals the surprising story of how this extraordinary undertaking began, introduces us to the array of individuals who have worked tirelessly for years to build the road–or to stop it–and guides us through the many places the highway would change forever: from sprawling cities like Indianapolis, Houston, and Memphis to the small rural towns of the Midwestern rust belt, the Mississippi Delta, and south Texas.

The idea of I-69 has already had an impact. Many expect the interstate to be an economic boon for a suffering region of America, while others worry that another highway will only spoil what's left of small-town life and rural beauty. Along the proposed route, Dellinger met retired mayors and businessmen for whom I-69 is something of a last wish. And he met environmentalists, farmers, anarchists, and others who question its merits. Their stories, their fundamental reasons for supporting or protesting the highway, shed light on the true impact of this massive, unfinished project, which will undoubtedly continue to be an issue for years to come.

Along the way, Dellinger's Interstate 69 paints an insightful portrait of Middle America in all of its political, social, and economic complexity. His reporting and reflection shed new light on hot button issues like globalization and environmentalism, and his deep research provides much-needed context to the growing debate about our country's troubled infrastructure. In an era where bridges fall, levees fail, and states lease their toll roads to foreign-owned corporations, Americans are realizing how roads and bridges and rails affect our standard of living and quality of life and how it determines which places prosper and which places fade.

Dellinger connects these dots with an absorbingly human, on-the-ground examination of our country's struggle with development. Interstate 69 captures the hopes, dreams, and fears surrounding what we build and what we leave behind.

About the author:

Matt Dellinger has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, the Oxford American, Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal magazine, and The New York Times and has reported on transportation and planning for the public radio show The Takeaway. He worked for ten years on staff at The New Yorker as an illustrations editor, multimedia editor, and the producer and host of The New Yorker Out Loud, the magazine's first weekly podcast. He also coached The New Yorker's softball team for eight seasons. Dellinger was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and graduated from DePauw University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and blogs for public radio's TransportationNation.org.