Artkansas 

6 Freeway Removals that Changed their Cities Forever

There's hope.

B. Carfree

Hear, hear! I wish there were more people in my city who would support unbuilding the horrific I-105 spur off of I-5. This abomination runs right along the river, roars over the green strip and then cuts through an historic neighborhood, all to save a few motorists a few minutes.

Roody

Many of those inner city freeways weren't even built to serve transportation needs. Instead, they served to tear apart minority communities in the hopes that "those people" would move somewhere else. When that didn't work, the freeways enabled wealthier people to move away from the central city by making suburban sprawl possible. They basically just feed people from their suburban homes to their jobs downtown. This was a major factor in the decline of Detroit and other cities.

B. Carfree

The first house I lived in was very near the current MacArthur freeway in Oakland, CA. Had that monstrosity not been built, my family might have stayed in Oakland instead of moving over the hill into a neighboring town. My life has been much better because of that move, but those who couldn't leave were much worse off because of that freeway. For several decades after its construction, trucks were forbidden to use it; it was for commuters only.

Roody

Well, they built the urban freeways so well off (ahem...white) people could remove to the suburbs. Now their children and grandchildren want to move back into the city, so they're tearing out the freeways to build nice walkable condos for them. It's all publicly funded--welfare for the wealthy.

Zedoo

I have been wondering what will be done with our freeways. The grade level freeways can be abandoned and reclaimed as farmland, but the overpasses and below grade corridors will need some work. If that's not done soon enough with heavy machinery, some communities or travellers in covered wagons may need to fill gaps and clear collapsed rubble by hand.

Roody

Did you see the picture of the rehabbed freeway ditch in Seoul? They put in a creek and some trees and called it a park. I think the ditches would make fantastic linear parks in some communities, with great MUPs and some greenery.

jmilleronaire

I once watched a documentary about the Seoul freeway removal, and it actually was built on top of a stream. The removal allowed restoration of the stream that had previously existed, not creating a stream.

There was some concern that less-wealthy shopowners in the shadows were displaced.

eČ | teachers | seoul: the stream of consciousness | PBS

fietsbob

Earthquake, 89 Loma Prieta epicenter on San Andres fault-line brought down the one in Oakland too , crushed people in the lower level..

a section of span on the bay bridge fell down too.. houses fell in their footprint..

Ekdog

I remember that. Then there was the 1994 Newhall Pass Interchange collapse which caused the death of an LAPD motorcycle cop who rode off of it.



Newhall Pass interchange - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

B. Carfree

The building my wife was working in got a good shake from that one, and it was clear up in Davis (seventy-odd miles from the Bay Bridge). With several freeways out of service, a quickly organized effort almost got Governor Wilson to sign on to twelve trains per day from Sacramento to the Bay Area. He was apparently ready to make it happen when some key players from the car lobby changed his mind at the last minute. However, the pro-train folks could smell success and they got the Capitals rolling in just a few years. There's something like twenty-five trains per day along that line now.

I still remember news stories that featured people taking BART from the (L)East Bay to The City for the first time while the Bay Bridge was out of service. They were amazed at how much easier/nicer it was to take BART rather than sit in traffic. Whoda thunkit?

fietsbob

Dad in Napa had the stash of nuts bolts & ball bearings stored, rust proof, in oil ,in glass jars on shelves
in his garage Home Shop come down.

I was in Eureka at the time.

All those people in Candlestick stadium were saved by being there instead of Home , or driving

Cubey

It's not freeway exactly, but here is another example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Way_Viaduct

Although it seems as though it's just going to be replaced, not removed.