Not looking good these days for elevated highways. Boston put its underground, Seattle is considering not replacing the Alaskan Way viaduct as it reaches the end of its useful life, and few people want San Francisco's Embarcadero Highway back. Now New Orleans is considering demolition of its 50 year old Claiborne Expressway.
Typical concerns about traffic are being raised, but the Infrastructurist has a good article on how tearing down elevateds can actually improve traffic flow.
On a similar note, have you heard of the 86-64 movement in Louisville? They're talking about routing I-64 around the city, converting the urban section to a spur route, and removing some of the riverfront section.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it'll actually happen but this idea, which was developed as an alternative to a massive interchange reconstruction project, is gaining ground in terms of popularity.
Daniel, thanks for the comment and the link. This is no longer experimental based on the experiences of Milwaukee, Portland, SF, etc. Louisville looks very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm coming in a bit late here, but has anyone taken into consideration that, unlike the already-done experiences, these current proposals (I-10 NOLA, I-64 Louisville, I-81 Syracuse) are not spur routes but are actually THROUGH routes? It's a different ballgame in these cases.
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