lpetrich
Contributor
Freeway lid (freeway burying) and Freeway removal - the latest trend in urban design.
Roads and bridges have been around for centuries, but freeways started being built around a century ago - Controlled-access highway - so that engine-powered flat-road vehicles could travel fast without obstruction. The US had a big boom in freeway construction in the 1950's and 1960's and 1970's, as did several other industrialized countries, and this provoked numerous Highway revolt against the construction of urban freeways in several countries.
Over the last few decades, freeway revolts have gone further, leading to the burial and removal of several urban freeways.
The Big Dig of Boston MA lived up to its name, burying not only downtown I-93 - the Central Artery - but also building a new bridge to the west and also a tunnel for I-90 to the east. It took some 15 years to build, twice as long as expected, and it cost three times as much as expected. It also had a lot of controversy from design flaws and substandard materials and leaks.
Downtown I-93 was earlier elevated, on a viaduct, and when it was buried as a tunnel, the Big Dig's builders replaced the former freeway with a park - the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and Home - The Rose Kennedy Greenway
In Seattle WA, after the Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged by an earthquake, and it risked collapsing, like a West Oakland freeway viaduct did in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. So the Seattle politicians decided to bury it in a tunnel, the State Route 99 tunnel
There are similar urban freeway tunnels elsewhere in the world, like in Tokyo Japan, Prague Czechia, Dublin Ireland, Sydney Australia, Victoria Hong Kong, Haifa Israel
Roads and bridges have been around for centuries, but freeways started being built around a century ago - Controlled-access highway - so that engine-powered flat-road vehicles could travel fast without obstruction. The US had a big boom in freeway construction in the 1950's and 1960's and 1970's, as did several other industrialized countries, and this provoked numerous Highway revolt against the construction of urban freeways in several countries.
Over the last few decades, freeway revolts have gone further, leading to the burial and removal of several urban freeways.
The Big Dig of Boston MA lived up to its name, burying not only downtown I-93 - the Central Artery - but also building a new bridge to the west and also a tunnel for I-90 to the east. It took some 15 years to build, twice as long as expected, and it cost three times as much as expected. It also had a lot of controversy from design flaws and substandard materials and leaks.
Downtown I-93 was earlier elevated, on a viaduct, and when it was buried as a tunnel, the Big Dig's builders replaced the former freeway with a park - the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and Home - The Rose Kennedy Greenway
In Seattle WA, after the Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged by an earthquake, and it risked collapsing, like a West Oakland freeway viaduct did in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. So the Seattle politicians decided to bury it in a tunnel, the State Route 99 tunnel
There are similar urban freeway tunnels elsewhere in the world, like in Tokyo Japan, Prague Czechia, Dublin Ireland, Sydney Australia, Victoria Hong Kong, Haifa Israel