Milwaukee demolished a downtown freeway in 2002. Despite having no urban rail transport infrastructure, its transit commute share is twice that of Dallas (8.5%). The decisions its leaders have made about how to invest in new transportation capacity have clearly provided benefits to the downtown core even as the economy of the rest of the city continues to struggle. Dallas’ decision over whether to build a new highway downtown could profoundly affect whether its center city moves in Milwaukee’s direction or away from it.
We should not let the lame be the enemy of the perfectly adequate,” says one critic of the New Haven mayor’s proposal. In a session last Friday at the Congress for New Urbanism in West Palm Beach, Florida, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. butted heads with a gathering of new urbanists over what they believe are flawed plans to replace a less than one-mile-long expressway on the edge of the city’s downtown with a pair of surface streets, writes Philip Langdon.
The boulevard, in fact, is where the Los Angeles of the immediate future is taking shape. No longer a mere corridor to move cars, it is where L.A. is trying on a fully post-suburban identity for the first time, building denser residential neighborhoods and adding new amenities for cyclists and pedestrians. In the process, the city is beginning to shed its reputation as a place where the automobile is king — or at least where its reign goes unchallenged. Cities across the U.S. followed L.A.’s car-crazy lead in the postwar era. This time around we might provide a more enlightened example: how to retrofit a massive region for a future that is less auto-centric.
Mayor John DeStefano traveled to West Palm Beach, Florida, to try convince his toughest skeptics that New Haven has learned, that New Haven is rebuilding community and neighborhood and a lively streetscape where bulldozers once killed them. He spoke by invitation on a panel at a conference organized by a group called the Congress For The New Urbanism. He earned points from the skeptics for showing up and making his case. He didn’t win many converts.
Highways-to-Boulevards at CNU 20
CNU’s initiatives advance bipartisan reforms that deliver market-based improvements to the economy, the environment and public health. Initiatives work to remove codes, standards, and financial and tax incentives that act as obstacles to the creation of vibrant, healthy, value-driven and better-performing live/work/walk districts.
Initiatives are member-led, so CNU members can share expertise and shape new ideas. At CNU 20, there are several ways to get connected with current CNU initiatives, such as the Highways-to-Boulevards initiative. See below for meeting times on sessions and meetings on CNU’s Highways-to-Boulevards and related initiatives at the upcoming Congress:
Project for Transportation Reform
- Initiative Meeting: Friday, May 12, 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM, Meeting Room 2 DEF.
- Discussion leaders include: Marcy McInelly, Norman Garrick, and Scott Polikov.
- Urban Freeways Panel: Friday, May 11, 10:45 AM to 12:00 PM, Ballroom B.
- Panelists include: John Norquist, Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., Tony Garcia, and Alison Richardson.
Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares
- 202 A CNU/ITE Recommended Practice: Wednesday, May 9, 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM Meeting Room 1 D.
- Speakers include: Norman Garrick and Eric Dumbaugh.
Removing the overpass expands New Orleans’ tourist base beyond the French Quarter and into its neighborhoods, improving the economy of the city overall. When San Francisco’s Central Freeway was first removed, no one imagined that Hayes Street, the forgotten neighborhood commercial street beneath the freeway, could become one of the most successful retail streets in the city. For a visitor economy, the real competition isn’t between different neighborhoods in a city, it’s between cities. - Jeff Tumlin
Transportation projects often have profound consequences for public health, whether negative (in the case of fossil fuel-burning highway expansions) or positive (in the case of calorie-burning bike-friendly, walkable streets). So why don’t cities and states always consider health impacts when evaluating a transportation project or policy?
