Miami’s business and political elite developed “slum clearance” plans during the 1930s designed to remove the city’s African American population beyond the city limits. While New Deal housing projects created new segregated areas in Dade County in the 1930s, Overtown remained. Overtown, home to several of the most important stops on the Circuit, thrived until the construction of Interstate 95 cut a path right through the middle of the neighborhood. The population of Overtown dwindled rapidly, from nearly 40,000 before construction of the highway to fewer than 15,000 after it was complete.