Which Urban Freeways Are Ready to Go?

[marmar]

Which Urban Freeways Are Ready to Go?

Seattle | 08/30/2012 1:22pm |
Alex Vuocolo | Next American City





To many city-dwellers, the obsolescence of aging urban highways is obvious. Here in Philadelphia, for instance, I-95 is fast-approaching the end of its design life. What will become of it — particularly a three-mile stretch along the Delaware River that divides the city from its waterfront — has occupied the concern and imagination of residents and city planners alike.

It’s an issue that many U.S. cities face as they still reel from the legacy of mid-20th century highway construction and the present threat of infrastructural failure.

But wholesale demolition of urban highways remains unlikely, and the cities that have succeeded in removal have awaited a critical mass, such as pressing safety issues, or spent years fighting for political consensus.

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which has long been a proponent of more walkable and less automobile-oriented cities, hopes to quicken the process by identifying urban freeways primed for demolition crews. Following a similar report in 2010, CNU’s 2012 Freeways Without a Futures report lists 12 urban freeways throughout North America based on the following factors: “The age and design of structures, redevelopment potential, potential cost savings, ability to improve both overall mobility and local access, existence of pending infrastructure decisions, and community support.”

Here are the freeways listed:

1. I-10/Claiborne Overpass, New Orleans
2. I-895/Sheridan Expressway, New York City (Bronx)
3. Route 34/Oak Street Connector, New Haven
4. Route 5/Skyway, Buffalo
5. I-395/Overtown Expressway, Miami
6. I-70, St. Louis
7. West Shoreway, Cleveland
8. I-490/Inner Loop, Rochester
9. I-81, Syracuse
10. Gardiner Expressway, Toronto
11. Aetna Viaduct, Hartford
12. Route 99/Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle

.................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://americancity.org/daily/entry/urban-freeways-ready-to-go

[NYC_SKP]

1. Elsewhere in the world... Seoul, Korea, and their river restoration project:

River restoration with highway removal



In megacity Seoul, Korea, the restoration of a culturally important river teaches key lessons. A river can be recovered and restored even in a large and dense central business district, with multiple positive effects. These include providing habitat for nature, preserving cultural heritage, providing access to nature for the public, flood control, and microclimate regulation. The river restoration also promoted more sustainable transport forms over roads and cars removed to make space for the river and its surrounding parks.

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/cities/urban_solutions/themes/nature/?204454/Seoul

I'm reminded of the removal of San Francisco's Embarcadero freeway.

It wasn't done so much as a waterfront restoration matter, IIRC, but as an alternative to repairs and reinforcement post 1989 earthquake.

[marmar]

3. The first time I visited SF, the Embarcadero Freeway was already gone.....

...... but I've seen pictures of it. It was a hideous eyesore, as is the awful Gardiner Expressway in Toronto.

[KamaAina]

5. Oakland's Cypress Freeway also came down in '89

literally. It was never rebuilt; a surface road called Mandela Parkway took its place. I-880 was rerouted to the west, by the Port of Oakland and the railroad tracks.

[CrispyQ]

2. Make American corporations, who use these roads,

invest some of that trillion dollar cash pile they're sitting on, into the American infrastructure. Imagine what would happen if suddenly, people across the nation, were working good paying construction jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure. Hmmmm, that sounds so familiar. Did something like this happen before or was it just a dream I had?

[KamaAina]

4. The I-10 Claiborne overpass was built right over a thriving African American commercial street

which, predictably, is now No Man's Land, and was long before Katrina.

Meanwhile, New Haven boasts one of the Northeast's most successful downtowns. Several extra blocks of it would really come in handy!