DEVELOPMENT:Cap Over Connector (2013, maintenance, to move)

[thebigATL]

Have anybody heard any news on the Connector project,I'm just wondering because I think it's dead at this point.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by thebigATL

Have anybody heard any news on the Connector project,I'm just wondering because I think it's dead at this point.

It's not necessarily dead, it's just that there is absolutely no funding for it at this point in time where existing transportation funding for routine maintenance is dwindling and in danger of running completely out.

[bryantm3]

it's also not possible to cap most of the connector. look at 16th street, 8th street, 3rd street, and everywhere south of freedom parkway. the connector is at or above grade in those areas.

[gtcorndog]

This was never a real project that had any potential to happen in the near-term.

There is a difference between someone's internet doodles and a real project/

[taurus2000]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

it's also not possible to cap most of the connector. look at 16th street, 8th street, 3rd street, and everywhere south of freedom parkway. the connector is at or above grade in those areas.

What does it mean to "cap the connector"?

[tikigod311]

The pictures that were posted a while ago were a long term vision. It is supposed to play out first is through the enhancements to a few key bridges. I think that has funding at this point. Not sure what the timeline is

[TripTychTwo]

Originally Posted by thebigATL

Have anybody heard any news on the Connector project,I'm just wondering because I think it's dead at this point.

wait??!? this is dead? no way! next thing you know times street south and the trump towers are dead projects too. or that creating a tunnel from 400 to 675 is dead too.

anybody heard any updates on 1125??1/1 i'm getting,impatient about that.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by taurus2000

What does it mean to "cap the connector"?

this is the basic idea:



the rendering above is in austin, texas— our connector is at least twice as wide as that, so even if you sunk the connector down, "capping" our connector would pretty much mean a giant treeless park, as you can't build anything over such a thin bridge structure, and correct me if i'm wrong, but i can't imagine trees being able to grow very large in such a shallow patch of dirt.

the fact that it would basically be an empty plot of grass combined with the fact that the freeway would have to be lowered to make it happen, it seems to me like you might as well tunnel the thing rather than spend just as much money to build a huge lawn where the freeway used to be.

if you tunnelled the connector, at least you'd be able to reclaim the land where the connector was for real development, whether it's a street grid, skyscrapers, a park with giant oak trees, etc. "capping" pretty much leaves you one option: grass and shrubs.

if it were smaller like the freeway pictured above, it would be fine since you could create a little boulevard, but i don't see the point in paying billions of dollars to create a 1/4 mile wide monument to the great plains in the middle of midtown.

forget the "cap"-romise and pay 10% more for a real tunnel. otherwise, leave it as is and try to work with what we've got. i'm not opposed to capping over the sections that can be easily done, but when you have to start tearing up the connector to move it down 20 feet, you might as well tunnel the damn thing.

[gtjared]

Originally Posted by TripTychTwo

wait??!? this is dead? no way! next thing you know times street south and the trump towers are dead projects too. or that creating a tunnel from 400 to 675 is dead too.

anybody heard any updates on 1125??1/1 i'm getting,impatient about that.

Hahahahahahah. Too funny.

[atler8]

Well put above bryant @ 9:47 on many fronts!
We already have the dreadful concrete wasteland canopy covering over the connector where Courtland & Ralph McGill meet & it's ugly as sin. And the cutesy folk art projects installed there ahead of the Olympics to bring 'life" to the streetscape are not aging well. They look hideous now for the most part, complete with metallic rust on some objects.