I can’t remember where I first read the scar analogy (I certainly didn’t think of it), but it was in reference to the fact that a lot of the highways that now run through major cities were built by razing existing communities whose residents were overwhelmingly poor and people of color. In fact, bulldozing those communities was seen by white, wealthy planners as a desirable thing in its own right. This isn’t the story where I saw the analogy, but it’s a good history: Highways gutted American cities. So why did they build them? - Vox
Luckily, Raleigh was spared the worst of that. But, yes, having lanes and lanes of concrete whisking cars through your neighborhood at high speeds is definitely scarring in its own right!