We’ve all read about San Francisco’s Embarcadero Freeway, Boston’s Central Artery, and the Alaskan Viaduct in Seattle. Each have one thing in common: during the 1950s they were built smack dab in the middle of thriving downtown areas ripping out neighborhoods and destroying communities. They also have another thing in common: all three have been ripped out (they’re working on the Alaskan Viaduct) and replaced with more ped-friendly parks and green spaces.
Here in Portland, there was a similar situation with the Harbor Drive (pictured above) that was demolished in 1974, to make way for the Tom McCall Waterfront Park (now a thriving community gathering place).
Portland also has an abundance of abandoned freeway ramps (built but never finished when the Mt. Hood Freeway was scrapped) as well as viaducts or obsolete highway alignments- a few that could be removed and transforming neighborhoods in the process.
Portland Transport (a fave read) has compiled a great list of ramps and viaduct removal. Here’s their criteria:
- The structure or alignment in question ought to be of limited transportation value. The Lovejoy Viaduct served a useful purpose when it crossed a railyard; not so much when it crossed a vacant lot. Absent from this list are proposals to remove freeways—while some of us may like doing that, such things are, obviously, a harder sell. In general, if removal of the structure would create a bottleneck where none exists before, it’s not on the list.
- Some potential for urban transformation is also required.
Read the piece. It’s awesome.
Built Blocks 