Pedways (short for pedestrian walkways) are elevated or underground walkways, often connecting urban high-rises to each other, other buildings, or the street. They provide quick and comfortable movement from building to building, away from traffic and inclement weather. [1] Two of the largest networks of underground walkways are located in Canada, with RÉSO in Montreal and PATH in Toronto each consisting of approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) of underground city-centre walkways.
The concept of the elevated pedestrian way is credited to Antonio Sant'Elia, an Italian architect whose career was cut short by his death in World War One. He foresaw the city of the future as high rise tower blocks connected by elevated walkways at different levels. [2]
A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclosed or covered footbridges that protect pedestrians from the weather. Open-top modern skyways in mountains now often have glass bottoms. Sometimes enclosed urban skywalks are made almost totally from glass, including ceilings, walls and floors. Also, some urban skyways function strictly as linear parks designed for walking.
In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails.
An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of these. Underground cities may be currently active modern creations or they may be historic including ancient sites, some of which may be all or partially open to the public.
St Helen's is a commercial skyscraper in London, United Kingdom. It is 118 metres (387 ft) tall and has 23 floors. The postal address is No. 1, Undershaft, though the main entrance fronts onto Leadenhall Street, in the City of London financial district.
RÉSO, commonly referred to as the Underground City, is the name applied to a series of interconnected office towers, hotels, shopping centres, residential and commercial complexes, convention halls, universities and performing arts venues that form the heart of Montreal's central business district, colloquially referred to as Downtown Montreal. The name refers to the underground connections between the buildings that compose the network, in addition to the network's complete integration with the city's entirely underground rapid transit system, the Montreal Metro. Moreover, the first iteration of the Underground City was developed out of the open pit at the southern entrance to the Mount Royal Tunnel, where Place Ville Marie and Central Station stand today.
Path is a network of underground pedestrian tunnels, elevated walkways, and at-grade walkways connecting the office towers of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It connects more than 70 buildings via 30 kilometres (19 mi) of tunnels, walkways, and shopping areas. According to Guinness World Records, Path is the largest underground shopping complex in the world, with 371,600 square metres (4,000,000 sq ft) of retail space which includes over 1,200 retail fronts (2016). As of 2016, over 200,000 residents and workers use the Path system daily with the number of private dwellings within walking distance at 30,115.
A footbridge is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians. While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a height above the ground", a footbridge can also be a lower structure, such as a boardwalk, that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. Bridges range from stepping stones–possibly the earliest man-made structure to "bridge" water–to elaborate steel structures. Another early bridge would have been simply a fallen tree. In some cases a footbridge can be both functional and artistic.
The Chicago Pedway is a network of tunnels, ground-level concourses and bridges in Chicago, Illinois connecting skyscrapers, retail stores, hotels, and train stations throughout the central business district.
The Plus 15 or +15 is a skyway network in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is the world's most extensive pedestrian skywalk system, with a total length of 16 kilometres and 86 bridges connecting 130 buildings, as of 2022. Calgary often has severe winters and the walkways allow people to get around the city's downtown more quickly and comfortably. The busiest parts of the network saw over 20,000 pedestrians per day in a 2018 count.
Downtown Calgary is a dense urban district in central Calgary, Alberta. It contains the second largest concentration of head offices in Canada, despite only being the country's fourth largest city in terms of population. The downtown is divided into several residential, commercial, corporate, and mixed-use neighbourhoods, including the Financial District (CBD), Eau Claire, Chinatown, East Village, Beltline, and the West End.
A skyway is a suspended covered walkway between buildings.
The Downtown Halifax Link system is a network of climate-controlled pedways connecting various office buildings, hotels, parkades, and entertainment venues around downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is similar to Toronto's PATH or Montreal's RÉSO system, but on a much smaller scale. These walkways are all open to the public, and are convenient during inclement weather and the winter months.
A greenway is usually a shared-use path along a strip of undeveloped land, in an urban or rural area, set aside for recreational use or environmental protection. Greenways are frequently created out of disused railways, canal towpaths, utility company rights of way, or derelict industrial land. Greenways can also be linear parks, and can serve as wildlife corridors. The path's surface may be paved and often serves multiple users: walkers, runners, bicyclists, skaters and hikers. A characteristic of greenways, as defined by the European Greenways Association, is "ease of passage": that is that they have "either low or zero gradient", so that they can be used by all "types of users, including mobility impaired people".
The city of Calgary, Alberta, has a large transportation network that encompasses a variety of road, rail, air, public transit, and pedestrian infrastructure. Calgary is also a major Canadian transportation centre and a central cargo hub for freight in and out of north-western North America. The city sits at the junction between the "Canamex" highway system and the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Winnipeg Walkway System, also known as the Winnipeg Skywalk, is a network of pedestrian skyways and tunnels connecting a significant portion of downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Minneapolis Skyway System is an interlinked collection of enclosed pedestrian footbridges that connect various buildings in 80 full city blocks over 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of Downtown Minneapolis, enabling people to walk in climate-controlled comfort year-round. The skyways are owned by individual buildings in Minneapolis, and as such they do not have uniform opening and closing times. The 9.5 miles of skyway are comparable to the Houston tunnel system, the systems in Canadian cities such as Toronto's PATH, Montreal's Underground City, Calgary's 11-mile Plus 15 system and the 8-mile Edmonton Pedway system.
The Dallas Pedestrian Network or Dallas Pedway is a system of grade-separated walkways covering thirty-six city blocks of Downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The system connects buildings, garages and parks through tunnels and above-ground skybridges. The network contains an underground city of shops, restaurants and offices during weekday business hours.
The City of London Pedway Scheme is a largely elevated pedway network that evolved out of a plan to transform traffic flows in the City of London by separating pedestrians from street level traffic using elevated walkways. First devised as part of the post World War II reconstruction plans for London, it was put into effect mainly from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, and had been largely mothballed by the 1980s. The scheme was partially revived in 2017 when a new section of walkway was added as part of a development in London Wall.
The De La Rosa Elevated Walkway is a network of elevated pedway in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. Measuring 1,110 meters (3,640 ft), the structure is the longest elevated pedway in the Philippines. It runs mostly along De La Rosa Street in Legazpi Village of Makati Central Business District from Greenbelt at Ayala Center to Salcedo Street. It physically links buildings such as the Ayala North Exchange, Makati Medical Center, Eton Tower Makati, De La Rosa Car Park 1 & 2, The Enterprise Center Tower, and Greenbelt.
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