Editing South Street (section)

=== Near-Destruction ===

In the 1960s, South Street was slated for demolition to create the Crosstown Expressway, a highway that would have connected I-76 to I-95 through Center City. The threat of demolition caused property owners to defer maintenance and businesses to close, creating blight that paradoxically attracted artists, musicians, and countercultural entrepreneurs to cheap rents. When highway plans were finally abandoned in 1974, this alternative community had established South Street's bohemian identity.<ref name="south"/>