The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(November 2019) |
Freeway removal is a public policy of urban planning to demolish freeways and create mixed-use urban areas, parks, residential, commercial, or other land uses. Such highway removal is often part of a policy to promote smart growth, transit-oriented development, and pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly cities. In some cases freeways are re-imagined as boulevards, rebuilt as below-grade freeways underneath caps-and-stitches, or relocated through less densely-developed areas.
Freeway removals most often occur in cities where highways were built through dense neighborhoods - a practice common in the 20th Century, particularly in U.S. cities following the 1956 enactment of the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. [1] These highways often created blight that minimized use of land space and reduced the quality of life for city residents. In the United States, the routes for interstate highways were often built through minority neighborhoods in urban centers, [2] which often led to increasing racial segregation by creating physical barriers between neighborhoods. [3]
Beginning in the late 20th century, as many highways reached the end of their lifespans, urban planners and activists began proposing demolishing or transforming highways in lieu of repairing them in an effort to alleviate the symptoms of displacement and lack of neighborhood connectivity. [4] [5] In many cases, there are political battles between citizens' groups who are proponents of freeway removal proposals and suburban drivers that want to keep the freeways. [6]
In early 2021, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer proposed legislation that would offer cities federal money to remove urban highways. The pilot program includes $10 billion to cover the inspection of existing infrastructure and possibly cover costs involved in removal and redevelopment planning. [7]
A freeway-to-boulevard conversion involves demolishing a controlled access highway with an at-grade boulevard. Land formerly devoted to highway lanes and exit ramps are often repurposed into wide sidewalks, bike lanes, green space, or sold for urban development. [8]
One of the earliest examples of a freeway-to-boulevard conversion was the transformation of the West Side Elevated Highway into an urban boulevard in New York City. In 1971, the Urban Development Corporation proposed replacing the aging elevated highway with a new interstate highway in Manhattan. [9] After fierce local opposition, New York City officially gave up on the proposed interstate project in 1985, [10] [9] and allocated 60 percent of its interstate highway funds to mass transit [10] and setting aside $811 million for the "West Side Highway Replacement Project". In 1987, the commission unanimously agreed to build the highway as a six-lane urban boulevard with a parkway-style median and decorative lightposts, along with a 60 acres (24 ha) $100 million park on the highway's western periphery. [11]
Another early freeway-to-boulevard conversion involved San Francisco's double-decked Embarcadero Freeway and Central Freeway, which were damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. [12] The Central Freeway was replaced by the multi-modal, landscaped surface-level Octavia Boulevard, and the Embarcadero Freeway was replaced by a boulevard with streetcar and light rail operations in the median, flanked by the restored Beaux-Arts style Ferry Building. [13]
Other early freeway removal projects occurred in Portland, Oregon and Milwaukee, Wisconsin that ultimately reduced traffic, spurred economic development, and allowed for the creation of new neighborhoods and commercial districts. The Harbor Drive Freeway in Portland was replaced by Tom McCall Waterfront Park, while the Park East Freeway in Milwaukee recovered prime land for development in the urban core. In Toronto, Ontario, the easternmost portion of the Gardiner Expressway, which was located between Don Road and Leslie Street, was demolished in 2000 and replaced with an at-grade urban boulevard with traffic lights, railroad crossings and a bike trail.
In situations where removing an urban freeway is believed to exacerbate traffic problems within a city, urban planners may resort to relocating the freeway underground and building freeway lids to reclaim the space previously occupied by the surface highway. [14] [15]
In Boston, Massachusetts, the Central Artery (Interstate 93) ran through the center of the city on an elevated green viaduct from its opening in the 1950s until 2005. The freeway divided historic neighborhoods and business districts in downtown Boston, and it was referred to as Boston's "other Green Monster." During the 1990s and early 2000s, a $15 billion project known as the Big Dig relocated the Central Artery into tunnels underneath downtown Boston; the old viaduct was demolished, and its path was reclaimed for a surface boulevard and park space.
The Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle, Washington, was replaced with the tunnel that carries the SR-99 freeway underneath the city.
Highway | Location | Description |
---|---|---|
Alaskan Way Viaduct | Seattle, Washington, United States | 2019 - Replaced with State Route 99 Tunnel |
Autopista de Circunvalación M-30 | Madrid, Spain | 2008 - Partial removal - Southern segment relocated underground as part of the Madrid Río project |
Bonaventure Expressway | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | 2016 - Elevated highway demolished and replaced with an urban boulevard and parkland [16] |
Ville-Marie Expressway and Décarie Road | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | 2018 - Partial demolition only, some ramps reduced along the Turcot Interchange |
Catharijnebaan | Utrecht, Netherlands | 2010 - Highway demolished and replaced with canal and green space |
Central Artery | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | 2003 - Relocated underground as part of the Big Dig project |
Central Freeway and Embarcadero Freeway | San Francisco, California, United States | 1993 - Replaced by at-grade boulevards following 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake |
Cheonggye Elevated Highway | Seoul, South Korea | 2003 - Replaced with artificial stream and green space |
Cogswell Interchange (Harbour Drive) | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | 2021 - Freeway-to-boulevard conversion |
Gardiner Expressway | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 2001 - Partial demolition; exit ramps replaced with parkland |
Harbor Drive | Portland, Oregon, United States | 1974 - Demolished and replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park |
Innerbelt | Akron, Ohio, United States | 2017 - Highway closed and redeveloped into parkland and urban development [17] |
Inner Loop | Rochester, New York, United States | 2014 - Replaced with surface streets and urban development |
Interstate 30 | Fort Worth, Texas, United States | 2001 - Highway rerouted farther from downtown; elevated highway demolished and replaced with parkland and urban development |
Interstate 70 | Denver, Colorado, United States | 2022 - CDOT replaced a 1.8-mile (2.9 km) viaduct with a below-grade highway with a four-acre (1.6 ha) park being built over it |
Interstate 170 | Baltimore, Maryland, United States | 2010 - Western stub removed for expansion of the West Baltimore station's parking lot and possible Red Line project |
Interstate 195 | Providence, Rhode Island, United States | 2011 - Highway relocated as part of the Iway project; former highway right-of-way repurposed into urban development |
NY 895 (Sheridan Expressway) | The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States | 2017 - Freeway-to-boulevard conversion [18] |
Oak Street Connector | New Haven, Connecticut, United States | 2013 - Highway demolished and replaced with surface streets and urban development; portion of original highway repurposed as entrance to underground parking garage |
Oklahoma City Crosstown Expressway | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States | 2002 - Partial highway-to-boulevard conversion |
Park East Freeway | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States | 2002 - Demolished and repurposed into urban development |
Niagara Scenic Parkway | Niagara Falls, New York, United States | 2019 - Highway removed and replaced with surface streets and waterfront parkland |
Southeast Freeway | Washington D.C., United States | 2016 - Partial freeway-to-boulevard conversion |
Voie Georges-Pompidou | Paris, France | 2016 - Highway removed and replaced with public beaches and urban development |
West Sacramento Freeway | Sacramento, California, United States | 2014 - Highway removed and replaced with surface streets and urban development |
West Side Elevated Highway | Manhattan, New York City, New York (state), United States | 1977 - Elevated highway demolished and replaced with urban boulevard |
Dusseldorf Roadway | Dusseldorf, Germany | 1993 - Surface parkway replaced with tunnel |
Zhongxiao Elevated Highway | Taipei, Taiwan | 2016 - Elevated highway repurposed from roadway into elevated park. Section next to the North Gate demolished to give an unimpeded view of the gate. |
Highway | Location | Description |
---|---|---|
Interstate 81 | Syracuse, New York | Approved proposal to reroute I-81 traffic around Syracuse via Interstate 481 and downgrade the existing freeway to a business loop boulevard; [19] the plan was halted by judges multiple times and faced strong local opposition, but the construction phase has begun since then [20] |
Interstate 375 | Detroit, Michigan | Approved proposal to replace portion of freeway with at-grade boulevard; construction is planned to begin 2025 [21] |
Highway | Location | Description |
---|---|---|
Claiborne Expressway | New Orleans, Louisiana | Proposal to demolish highway (I-10) and replace with at-grade boulevard; [22] the governments of Louisiana and New Orleans have countered with a proposal to improve the elevated freeway and the space beneath it as well as remove four ramps in Tremé instead due to the negative travel congestion impacts that would result from removing the expressway [23] |
Downtown Connector | Atlanta, Georgia | Proposal to rebuild highway underground beneath the city [24] |
Interstate 787 and South Mall Arterial | Albany, New York | Proposal to remove highway and replace with at-grade boulevards, surface streets, urban development, and riverfront green space; [25] a draft report released in May 2019 did not recommend this change, [26] but studies on the freeway's future continue [27] |
Interstate 345 | Dallas, Texas | Proposal to demolish highway and replace with an at-grade boulevard; [28] this proposal was rejected by TxDOT due to negative traffic congestion impacts |
Interstate 35 | Austin, Texas | Proposal to re-route I-35 traffic around Austin via State Highway 130 and replace existing highway with an at-grade boulevard through Austin; [29] despite widespread opposition, TxDOT instead plans to rebuild and bury the freeway below-grade with some sections possibly covered with caps-and-stitches containing parkland [30] [31] |
Interstate 35 | Duluth, Minnesota | Proposal to replace riverfront highway with at-grade boulevard and green space [32] |
Interstate 475 | Flint, Michigan | Proposal to replace freeway with at-grade boulevard through downtown Flint [33] |
Metropolitan Expressway | Tokyo, Japan | Proposal to demolish viaduct through the city center [6] |
Whitehurst Freeway | Washington, D.C. | Proposal to demolish elevated highway; this proposal has been stopped several times [34] |
Interstate 794 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Proposal to replace freeway with at-grade boulevard through downtown Milwaukee [35] |
Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs 35.62 miles (57.32 km) from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The majority of I-278 is in New York City, where it serves as a partial beltway and passes through all five of the city's boroughs. I-278 follows several freeways, including the Union Freeway in Union County, New Jersey; the Staten Island Expressway (SIE) across Staten Island; the Gowanus Expressway in southern Brooklyn; the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) across Northern Brooklyn and Queens; a small part of the Grand Central Parkway in Queens; and a part of the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. I-278 also crosses multiple bridges, including the Goethals, Verrazzano-Narrows, Kosciuszko, and Robert F. Kennedy bridges.
A frontage road is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private driveways, shops, houses, industries or farms. Where parallel high-speed roads are provided as part of a major highway, these are also known as local lanes. Sometimes a similar arrangement is used for city roads; for example, the collector portion of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts, is known as a carriage road.
The Oak Street Connector, officially known as the Richard C. Lee Highway, is a 0.6-mile-long (0.97 km) freeway carrying Route 34 in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The freeway begins at the junction of Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 and ends at Orange Street.
State Route 99 (SR 99), also known as the Pacific Highway, is a state highway in the Seattle metropolitan area, part of the U.S. state of Washington. It runs 49 miles (79 km) from Fife to Everett, passing through the cities of Federal Way, SeaTac, Seattle, Shoreline, and Lynnwood. The route primarily follows arterial streets, including Aurora Avenue, and has several freeway segments, including the tolled SR 99 Tunnel in Downtown Seattle. SR 99 was officially named the William P. Stewart Memorial Highway by the state legislature in 2016, after a campaign to replace an unofficial moniker honoring Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
Route 79 is a 18.47-mile-long (29.72 km) state highway in southeastern Massachusetts. The route had formerly began as a highway in Fall River, also known as the Fall River Viaduct and Western Fall River Expressway, before becoming a more rural route further north. Most of the southern expressway portion of the route was permanently closed by MassDOT in 2023 for conversion into a street level urban boulevard.
Interstate 676 (I-676) is an Interstate Highway that serves as a major thoroughfare through Center City Philadelphia, where it is known as the Vine Street Expressway, and Camden, New Jersey, where it is known as the northern segment of the North–South Freeway, as well as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Its western terminus is at I-76 in Philadelphia near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Fairmount Park. From there, it heads east and is then routed on surface streets near Franklin Square and Independence National Historical Park, home of the Liberty Bell, before crossing the Delaware River on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. On the New Jersey side of the bridge, the highway heads south to its southern terminus at I-76 in Gloucester City near the Walt Whitman Bridge. Between the western terminus and downtown Camden, I-676 is concurrent with U.S. Route 30 (US 30).
The Central Freeway is a roughly one-mile (1.5 km) elevated freeway in San Francisco, California, United States, connecting the Bayshore/James Lick Freeway with the Hayes Valley neighborhood. Most of the freeway is part of US 101, which exits at Mission Street on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. The freeway once extended north to Turk Street, and initially formed part of a loop around downtown, but was damaged along with the Embarcadero in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; both highways have since been replaced with the surface-level Octavia Boulevard and Embarcadero, respectively.
New York State Route 895 (NY 895), known locally as Sheridan Boulevard, is a four-lane boulevard in the New York City borough of The Bronx. Its south end is at a merge with the Bruckner Expressway (I-278) in the Hunts Point neighborhood, and its north end is at the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95), where the road connects with local streets in the West Farms neighborhood.
Interstate 170 (I-170) was the designation for a 2.3-mile (3.7 km) freeway in Baltimore, Maryland, that currently carries U.S. Route 40 (US 40). The freeway was originally planned to be the eastern terminus of I-70 and, later, a link between I-70 and the west side of Downtown Baltimore. However, after the Baltimore portion of I-70 was canceled due to community opposition, the freeway was left disconnected from the Interstate system and its Interstate designation rescinded. Local citizens and environmental groups have given the freeway nicknames of "The Highway to Nowhere" and "The Ditch", the latter owing to its mostly below-grade construction; other names include the "Westside Freeway" and the "Franklin–Mulberry Expressway", both referring to its location in the city. Growing support for the freeway's removal has occurred over the last several years.
Interstate 375 (I-375) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the southernmost leg of the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway and a spur of I-75 into Downtown Detroit, ending at the unsigned Business Spur I-375, better known as Jefferson Avenue. The freeway opened on June 12, 1964. At only 1.062 miles (1.709 km) in length, it once had the distinction of being the shortest signed Interstate Highway in the country before I-110 in El Paso, Texas, was signed. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced in 2021 plans to convert the freeway to a boulevard. Details of that project were revealed in April 2023 with MDOT reaffirming that construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.
State Route 480 was a state highway in San Francisco, California, United States, consisting of the elevated double-decker Embarcadero Freeway, the partly elevated Doyle Drive approach to the Golden Gate Bridge and the proposed and unbuilt section in between. The unbuilt section from Doyle Drive to Van Ness Avenue was to have been called the Golden Gate Freeway and the Embarcadero Freeway as originally planned would have extended from Van Ness along the north side of Bay Street and then along the Embarcadero to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Interstate 794 is a 3.75-mile (6.04 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in Milwaukee County in the US state of Wisconsin. It is one of two auxiliary Interstates in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, serves the lakefront and the Port of Milwaukee, and connects downtown with the southeastern suburbs of St. Francis, Cudahy, and South Milwaukee.
Highway revolts are organized protests against the planning or construction of highways, freeways, expressways, and other civil engineering projects which prioritize motor vehicle traffic over pedestrian movement or other considerations.
Interstate 345 (I-345) is an unsigned 1.4-mile-long (2.3 km) Auxiliary Interstate Highway in the city of Dallas within the US state of Texas. It is a freeway that connects I-45 with U.S. Highway 75 at State Highway Spur 366. Few maps actually display the road as I-345; signposts on the road show US 75 northbound, while southbound the highway is signed as I-45. In recent years, a debate over whether to maintain or decommission I-345 has received increased attention from several Dallas media outlets. TxDOT elected to maintain the freeway by lowering it below ground and removing frontage roads.
Interstate 610 (I-610) is a 4.52-mile-long (7.27 km) auxiliary route of I-10 that lies almost entirely within the city limits of New Orleans, Louisiana, bypassing its Central Business District.
Harbor Drive is a short roadway in Portland, Oregon, spanning a total length of 0.7 miles (1.1 km), which primarily functions as a ramp to and from Interstate 5. It was once much longer, running along the western edge of the Willamette River in the downtown area. Originally constructed from 1942–43, the vast majority of the road was replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park in the 1970s. Signed as U.S. Route 99W, it had been the major route through the city and its removal is often cited as the first instance of freeway removal in the U.S. and as a milestone in urban planning; the original road is remembered as the first limited-access highway built in the city.
Octavia Boulevard is a major street in San Francisco, California, United States, that replaced the Hayes Valley portion of the damaged two-level Central Freeway. Once a portion of Octavia Street alongside shadowy, fenced-off land beneath the elevated U.S. Route 101 roadway, Octavia Boulevard was redeveloped and redesigned upon the recommendation of a "Central Freeway" planning committee representing a broad array of neighborhoods, including the surrounding Hayes Valley and Western Addition, the Richmond District, Pacific Heights and the Sunset District with representatives appointed by Mayor Willie Brown and the Board of Supervisors and led by the Planning Department of San Francisco. Elements of the San Francisco General Plan were consulted for issues such as urban design, transportation mobility and congestion management, community safety and historic preservation, along with the evaluation of the impacts following the recent removal (1991) of the elevated Embarcadero Freeway and the revitalization of the Embarcadero as a surface boulevard complemented by an extension of the Muni Metro light-rail transit subway.
Interstate 277 (I-277) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of North Carolina. It serves as a 4.41-mile (7.10 km) partial loop around Uptown Charlotte.
Central Expressway is a north–south highway in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas (USA) and surrounding areas. The best-known section is the North Central Expressway, a name for a freeway section of U.S. Highway 75 between downtown Dallas and Van Alstyne, Texas. The southern terminus is south of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway at exit 284C of "hidden" Interstate 345. From there, Central Expressway becomes the South Central Expressway, the northernmost portion of which was renamed César Chávez Boulevard on April 9, 2010.
Highway revolts have occurred in cities and regions across the United States. In many cities, there remain unused highways, abruptly terminating freeway alignments, and short stretches of freeway in the middle of nowhere, all of which are evidence of larger projects which were never completed. In some instances, freeway revolts have led to the eventual removal or relocation of freeways that had been built.