Tree-lined boulevards, of course, do the opposite. The Embarcadero boulevard project cost $171 million, but raised property values by 300 percent—the same as in Seoul—for a full 1.2-mile stretch.29 You don’t need a real estate degree to understand that a threefold increase in property taxes for 1.2 miles of downtown San Francisco has probably paid for the boulevard several times over since 2000. Some cities, if they care to do the math, might find ample economic justification for tearing down an expressway or two, even before they begin to crumble.
