Thanks to BRO reader Adam P. who points out a couple of articles that discuss the benefits of freeway removal, but delve into alternate solutions that should be addressed before taking the plunge. When it comes to freeway removal, we have seen where cities spend billions of dollars on tunnels, when there are less expensive ways to accommodate traffic. As seen in this article, one solution is to simply remove the major roadway and let the traffic disperse into the city, and through it, rather than, say, along its waterfront (see here).
Again on Vox.com, another article delivers a convincing freeway removal argument by delivering an interactive “before and after” map of a number of cities. The result is unbelievable, unless you’re already familiar with the destruction that these types of freeway developments left in their collective wake (see the interactive slider maps here). Then picture downtown Buffalo, and the tangle of on and off ramps that lead from The Skyway.
Finally, another BRO reader recently pointed out Detroit’s latest efforts to push for the removal of its freeways (see here). This is a growing movement that we should be paying close attention to. At least we can certainly get the conversation started, by talking about the removal of our freeways along the waterfront?