What do the Alaskan Way Viaduct (Seattle, WA), the Sheridan Expressway (Bronx, NY), the Skyway and Route 5 (Buffalo, NY), Route 34 (New Haven, CT), the Claiborne Expressway (New Orleans, LA), Interstate 81 (Syracuse, NY), Interstate 64 (Louisville, KY), Route 29 (Trenton, NJ), the Gardiner Expressway (Toronto, ON), the 11th Street Bridges and the Southeast Freeway (Washington D.C.) have in common? They all made CNU’s* top-ten list of “Freeways Without Futures.” From today’s announcement:
“San Francisco, Portland, New York City and Milwaukee have all seen how the removal of freeways allows the rebirth of great city neighborhoods – with improved surface streets, better parks, renewed attention to pedestrian and transit amenities, plus an infusion of new private investment bringing housing, shops, restaurants and exciting cultural offerings. Traffic has redistributed efficiently in all cases. Now CNU is identifying 10 cities that have the greatest opportunity to repeat this success.”
Pinpointing Buffalo’s issue:
“Despite calls for redevelopment of this area, the NYSDOT selected to retain the embanked Route 5 (and reinforce it with new ramps) instead of replacing it with a surface boulevard supporting an urban street-and-block network, even though a boulevard-only option was deemed viable in the project’s environmental impact statement. NYSDOT’s current plan leaves aside the fate of the Skyway Bridge, but its decision to retain the embanked Route 5 will necessitate that the Skyway Bridge be replaced by a similar, high-speed expressway facility. It also rebuilds and reconfigures an access road adjacent to the embanked freeway, resulting in a total of 8 lanes of roadway with a right-of-way width of 214 feet. The agency’s designs, which leave waterfront access highly restricted and promote auto-dependent land uses, set the stage for limited reinvestment on the waterfront.”
Read the entire announcement here.
*Congress for New Urbanism
Support for Buffalo Rising comes from:
Support for Buffalo Rising comes from: