As highways built 50 years ago reach the end of their life spans, dozens of cities across the country are choosing to reconsider them rather than rebuild them. Rochester, Detroit, Dallas, Syracuse and New Orleans are just some of the cities looking at turning highways into smaller, walkable boulevards, covering them with parks or replacing them with high.capacity streets.
They’ve been aided in recent years by federal funding from administrations friendly to a new kind of urban planning focused on reconnecting neighborhoods, protecting the planet and promoting good physical health—not just what moves cars fastest.
Tampa Bay native Josh Frank, is an urban designer and town planner working on highway removal projects in Syracuse and New Orleans. He’s also the founder of blvdtampa.com, which proposes removing I-275 north of downtown Tampa and turning it into a boulevard. He joined WaveMakers to talk about transportation and building livable cities.
Listen to the program show here or by searching for WMNF WaveMakers wherever you listen to podcasts.
One Response to “Cities consider removing highways to revitalize and reconnect urban areas”
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This is a completely ridiculous idea that will make living in Tampa a nightmare without some very good urban transit alternatives. (And I say this as a resident of Sulphur Springs.) Though I take comfort in the likelihood that this will never come to pass, I can’t believe we keep talking about it year after year.