Recently in Case Studies Category

According to St. Louis Business Journal article Most Arch Design Teams: Remove I-70 Downtown, 4 out of 5 of the groups in a design competition recommend rerouting I-70 away from downtown as proposed by the City to River advocacy group. Link to Google Maps showing I-70 across St. Louis' waterfront.

While Louisville struggles to break free from an inbred political system that answers to special interests, other cities like St. Louis are moving forward with exciting plans to embrace a more livable and sustainable future.

This afternoon on NPR's Marketplace, Andrea Bernstein reported from New York City where there is growing momentum to remove an elevated portion of the FDR Drive.

You can listen to the piece by clicking here. Click Listen Now and go to 22:10. You can also view the Photo Gallery Slideshow.

The piece concluded:

"But around the country, mayors and governors are eying urban highway teardowns as the road to development, not congestion."

Except in Louisville, KY where outgoing Mayor Jerry Abramson has been aligned for decades with a special interest group to stop the East End Bridge.

Louisville needs to change. Louisvillians are ready for change. It's time!

"For more than a decade, a plan pushed by some [Louisville] residents and transportation advocates has sat on the fringes of the State Transportation Department's to-do list, in part because it would be a radical undoing: tearing down [I-64 on Louisville's riverfront]."

OK, so we made a few changes to the NYTimes article. It's just a matter of time though. We'll get there. Read the article.

"So in 2001, Missouri and Illinois went back to the drawing board. Both states agreed the project was too big and too costly. With money lacking, the solution was to downsize and build the bridge in phases. Ironically, the phase idea was borrowed from the Ohio River Bridges Project."

Watch Part I and Part II of the TV coverage.

St. Louis joins the growing list of cities looking to "open their front door" by removing an elevated expressway and reclaim their waterfront. Check out the City to River website. Do you think 8670.org was already taken?

Chicago urban planning blogger, Aaron Renn wrote a guest column for Portland's newspaper and uses 8664 as an example of the city's planning impact on other areas across the country. Read Picture Perfect Portland?

Renn's blog, the Urbanophile covered Louisville's Bridges issue back in June of 2009. Louisville: The case for 8664

Today's New York Times article about Providence, Rhode Island:

This city, which once moved rivers to create a new urban design, is now moving a major highway away from its downtown and opening up approximately 20 acres for development. This newly accessible area is within walking distance of Providence's historic waterfront and commercial downtown.

It continues:

But it is already generating considerable excitement among city and state officials, who see a rare opportunity to strengthen the city and state's economies and to connect neighborhoods to the Providence River waterfront, which has been cut off for years.

Read article

Today's Brokensidewalk post tackles some very important issues about peoples misperceptions about 8664 and the growing body of evidence to support "highway relocation". Here are just a few:

"the 8664.org proposal isn't exactly a highway removal as much as a highway relocation."

"As interest in the city and urban living continues to build, the prospects for quality of life increases, development opportunity, all while maintaining a functioning transportation system are catching the eye of innovative leaders and cities."

"One of the great things about the 8664.org plan is that it doesn't just solve a transportation problem in a more fiscally responsible manner, but also drastically raises Louisville's urban standard of living and provides for huge potential gains in community and real-estate development."

And much more. Heading over to brokensidewalk.com and read the entire post.

Brokensidewalk.com has compiled More evidence 8664 is a smart idea. Be sure to read it, but then pass it on to your Metro Council representative. They need to hear from you. 

If you care about the future growth and character of Louisville, then you should be an avid Brokensidewalk.com reader. The site covers the latest real-estate deal, the most up-to-date project announcements, and all the neighborhood news related to real estate development and living in our fine city. It's what you want and Louisville needs.

Add Philadelphia to the growing list of cities looking to remove an elevated interstate to reconnect the city to its natural assets. From the Philadelphia Inquirer article:

"Today, the Big Dig looks more like Boston's Big Coup.

On a bright morning in the fall, Boston dedicated a 1.5-mile linear park that is the public face of the Big Dig. A series of connected lawns and gardens, the greenway hugs the contours of downtown, skirting the historic Quincy Market and opening up spectacular views of the South Boston waterfront. Once an outback of crumbling warehouses, wharves, and parking lots, the area is morphing into a glittering arts district. The city is visibly whole again."

"Not long ago, the idea of bringing down the great barrier of I-95 seemed beyond Philadelphia's reach. But in recent months, a group of influential Philadelphians has been talking seriously about embarking on a "Philly Dig." They are emboldened not just by Boston's success, but also by President Obama's emphasis on stronger infrastructures and Mayor Nutter's interest in developing the historic waterfront."