Recently in Case Studies Category

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." 

 

Freeway removal continues to gain momentum around the country. Joining the growing list of planned or proposed freeway removal projects, Hartford, CT considers removing the Aetna Viaduct.

Cities are focusing on quality of life to attract people and economic prosperity. While in Louisville, the Bridges Coalition members Mayor Abramson and GLI support building a 23 lane Spaghetti Junction on our waterfront. Whatever possible gain in short-term job creation will surely be followed by long-term pain for the entire region - more traffic, more pollution and a less inviting city.

Chicago based Urban Affairs master The Urbanophile makes some compelling points about Louisville's future in Louisville: A Tale of Two Cities:

• You don't have to be a huge city to be an internationally known and respected one. So much of what Louisville does is oriented around trying to emulate larger cities, but another, and I would argue more viable strategy, is to focus on quality over quantity.

• Taking the road less traveled, so to speak, can pay long term dividends. Bucking the trends and carving out a unique path for yourself is what will really differentiate you over the long term.

• Choices matter, and this is a long term game. Having the vision to do what is right for the long term future, not just taking the easy way out for today, is what makes some cities winners and other losers. You have to be willing to place some bets. Stockholm did and it paid off.

The post was a response to a Swedish blog post comparing Stockholm's waterfront mega-interchange (view a live webcam of Slussen) to Louisville's planned expansion of Spaghetti Junction.

"The image you see here is not an exaggeration by the opposition, it is from the actual Ohio River Bridges Project website. It's really quite shocking how the project absolutely dwarfs entire city blocks of houses and businesses, and is placed directly between the city and its waterfront. If you're having any trouble imagining the size of this monster, compare it to the baseball stadium in the bottom left of the picture."

Will Louisville join Detroit as a city that lost its way? Just say NO. Let's join cities like Portland, San Francisco and Chattanooga, by embracing our waterfront and creating a more livable and sustainable city.

Back to the Grid, Part 2

StreetsBlogs: Could you walk us through what you had to go through with your freeway teardown in Milwaukee -- who did you have to win over to achieve that?

John Norquist: Well, the first thing was, it's so counterintuitive to do these things that the first reaction was from very reasonable people -- ordinary citizens, the traffic engineers, neighborhood people, even very progressive people -- "You want to do what? You want to tear that --what?" You know, it doesn't compute, it sounds like a wacky thing to do. You have to have patience and spend a lot of time in meetings letting people beat the living hell out of you. And then you get to a certain point where people say, "Hey, wait, I think I understand what you mean. You're saying the freeway's a blighting influence." And you just go through all the arguments against it, but the biggest argument for it is it just makes the place function a lot better and add more value and be a place where people actually want to be.