#CITIES SKYLINES HIGHWAY RAMPS DRIVERS#
#CITIES SKYLINES HIGHWAY RAMPS PLUS#
#CITIES SKYLINES HIGHWAY RAMPS SERIES#

вЂњNice shrub on the southbound side,вЂќ says another. More than 1,600 people have вЂњchecked-inвЂќ at this location on Foursquare. Just outside downtown Seattle, the I-90/I-5 Interchange is a tangled mass of traffic. Seattle: I-90 and I-5 Photo: Longbachnguyen The road needs expensive repairs and the least costly option is being considered: replacing it with a pedestrian-friendly parkway. The good news is there has been talk in Detroit of tearing out I-375. This interchange separates downtown Detroit from the Eastern Market, aВ major regional attraction.

Downtown Detroit is completely surrounded by highways, forming a noose around the city. This whole area was once a densely populated neighborhood of walkable blocks, home to much of the cityвЂ™s African-American population.

#CITIES SKYLINES HIGHWAY RAMPS SERIES#

Streetsblog showed the damage done to east Detroit by I-375 in this compelling series of photos. вЂњItвЂ™s a once-in-a-lifetime project,вЂќ an ODOT official told the local business publication.

#CITIES SKYLINES HIGHWAY RAMPS PLUS#

The $200 million project includes the construction of 22 bridges, plus a вЂњ cultural wall designed with community input.вЂќ The project is part of a larger, $556 million rebuilding of three major interchanges by downtown. Within the tangle of ramps is a school for the arts and a parking facility for Columbus Public School buses.Д¬onstruction to expand to the interchange began in 2011. The intersection of I-670 and I-71 in Columbus completely isolates part of the city bordering downtown and Columbus State Community College. But good luck getting to the Art and Space Museum on foot from downtown.

#CITIES SKYLINES HIGHWAY RAMPS DRIVERS#

Despite the near constant congestion, the interchange is at least scenic, drivers say. This interchange in San Diego is mostly tragic for its location, just on the border of Balboa Park, San DiegoвЂ™s вЂњcrown jewel,вЂќ according to BikeSDвЂ™s Sam Ollinger. LAвЂ™s Pregerson Interchange wasВ completed in 1993 at a cost of $135 million.В At the time it was the most expensive вЂњtraffic structureвЂќ Caltrans had ever built.В The LA TimesВ called it a вЂњfive-level maze of soaring and curving freeway lanes.вЂќ It includes nine miles of cloverleaf loops and is a mile and a half wide, a gargantuan pile of concrete looming over some of the cityвЂ™s poorest neighborhoods. Los Angeles: Pregerson Interchange (110/105) Photo: Citydata To 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, this interchange expansion was a вЂњbillion dollar blunder.вЂќ Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Administration gave the project its вЂњAward of Excellence in Highway Design.вЂќ Wisconsin is currently preparing for an even bigger interchange project: the $1.7 billion вЂњZoo Interchange,вЂќ not far away. It took 2.25 million man hours to construct the 28 ramps and 21 miles of roadway.В The concrete and steel needed to complete the project weighed 60,000 tons, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Rebuilding and expanding MilwaukeeвЂ™s Marquette Interchange, located not far from downtown Milwaukee by Marquette University, cost $810 million to complete in 2008. Milwaukee: Marquette Interchange (94/43/794) But when Louisville activists argued that a portion of the roadway feeding into the interchange should be torn down, they were steamrolledВ by powerful political interests. Even the New York Times lamentedВ the effect of this highway expansion on downtown neighborhoods. Gigantic as it may be, this interchange will be getting even bigger as Kentucky and Indiana move forward withВ the $2.6 billion Ohio River BridgesВ project. LouisvilleвЂ™s Kennedy Interchange sits just north of downtown, forming an immense barrier to the cityвЂ™s waterfront.

Just imagine what cities could do with all this spaceвЂ¦ Louisville:В Kennedy Interchange (64/65/71) Photo: Patrick Smith So, to give you a good look, we put together this list of some of the most enormous interchanges in U.S. After all, no one ever goes to hang out by the interchange.

What could be worse than a highway through the middle of town? How about when two highways intersect, with all their assorted high-speed ramps carving out huge chunks of land to move cars.Д«ut despite their massive scale and the huge sums we spend on them, highway interchanges in American cities can seem invisible. Ramming highways through the middle of American cities was undoubtedly one of the worst mistakes of the 20th century - demolishing urban habitat, dividing neighborhoods, and erecting structures that suck the life out of places.

Cities skylines highway ramps