Van -- I think that you can make a fair case for the revitalizing effects on the post WWII somnolent Boston (within City limits) of the Expressway / Central artery and the Turnpike Extension with lesser and more indirect contributions by I-93 and Rt-2
What Rt-128 did for Waltham, Lexington, Burlington, Woburn in the north and Newton, Needham, Dedham in the south -- the combination of the Tobin Bridge, Rt-2, SE expressway and Turnpike Extension did the same for the Back Bay and the Fin Dist
Not that the above is a justification of the process of how those roads entered the city and the internal destruction or at least disruption -- but to deny their contribution is to be unaware of the history