Removing Freeways and Replacing with Parks (Calhoun, Jackson: 2014, houses, neighborhoods)

[GRU_Minion]

Interesting article I came across on Gizmodo today on cities that have had great success with removing freeways and replacing with parks or other sorts of green space.

6 Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever

Many freeway systems were overbuilt in an auto-obsessed era. It was decades later that cities realized they were actually healthier, greener, and safer without them. Like cap parks, which hope to bridge the chasms through severed communities—Boston’s Big Dig is a great example—removal projects create multifunctional streets that can be utilized by all modes of transit and reconnect neighborhoods that were devastated by highways. In fact, this is why the US Department of Transportation recently introduced an initiative that focuses on repairing the inequality that urban freeways institutionalized so many years ago.

Okay, you’re thinking, but where do all the cars go? It turns out that when you take out a high-occupancy freeway it doesn’t turn the surface streets into the equivalent of the Autobahn. A theory called “induced demand” proves that if you make streets bigger, more people will use them. When you make them smaller, drivers discover and use other routes, and traffic turns out to be about the same.

[therealpattman]

I would be all about removing Calhoun Expressway and converting it to a landscaped Boulevard which coupled with the Cyber movement would make Harrisburg boom as a neighborhood.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by dpatt.marine1

I would be all about removing Calhoun Expressway and converting it to a landscaped Boulevard which coupled with the Cyber movement would make Harrisburg boom as a neighborhood.

That's one of the first roads that came to mind when I read it, too.

[tckr83]

Yea... Good luck getting out of downtown if you do that.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by tckr83

Yea... Good luck getting out of downtown if you do that.

Not sure what you're getting at. There are many other ways out of downtown that are used much more than Calhoun.

[tckr83]

Calhoun is heavily used too, so I'm not sure what you're getting at... It's not like there are a plethora of major roads going into and out of downtown headed in any one direction. I went through downtown every day to SRS, Riverwatch and Calhoun are plenty crowded already and with everything that will be heading downtown over the next few years (Unisys, cyber village, project Jackson, Miller theater) why eliminate a major vein into and out of downtown. It has to be replaced with something at least, but maybe a smaller road perhaps would be feasible. Who wants a park in a ditch though?

[tckr83]

The only way you will change Harrisburg is to bulldoze the majority of those houses and start anew... That's not the PC version, but that's reality. Maybe sell the upgraded area to younger and transplant professionals that are looking for the "urban feel".

That will never happen, but that's what it would take to make the rusted tin roofs disappear in that section of town.

[keatkeat_]

Originally Posted by tckr83

Calhoun is heavily used too, so I'm not sure what you're getting at... It's not like there are a plethora of major roads going into and out of downtown headed in any one direction. I went through downtown every day to SRS, Riverwatch and Calhoun are plenty crowded already and with everything that will be heading downtown over the next few years (Unisys, cyber village, project Jackson, Miller theater) why eliminate a major vein into and out of downtown. It has to be replaced with something at least, but maybe a smaller road perhaps would be feasible. Who wants a park in a ditch though?

Totally agree with this. Calhoun is needed to keep traffic from becoming an absolute beast during rush hours (now and in the future). In my opinion, Augusta needs to focus on practicality and feasibility to encourage growth and save aesthetic improvements like this for later on down the road.