America Walks recently covered the USDOT Reconnecting Communities grant program that awarded projects to remove or cap highways and reclaim and redesign the land for community connections: https://americawalks.org/reconnecting-communities-grant-awardees
To start these conversations in your community, a PBIC resource offers common vocabulary and tools to talk about highway removal projects: https://www.pedbikeinfo.org/resources/resources_details.cfm?id=5084