Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Honestly, for a freeway project in Houston this one is remarkably progressive. It removes half of the downtown freeway loop completely, removing the barrier on the south and west sides of downtown Houston. The other half of the downtown freeway loop gets pushed below ground, where it can be covered by park space, convention center expansion, stadium parking decks, or (maybe) private development.
It also sinks the Southwest Freeway through Midtown, where the Main St corridor will benefit urbanistically.
Basically, it's Houston's Big Dig, and should have many of the same urban benefits that Boston experienced whether the trenches get decked over or not. Those who are screaming about a "boondoggle freeway expansion" are deliberately ignoring the very real freeway removals and remediations that are part of the project.
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One thing I don't really get, and they're doing it here in Denver, is placing "decks" over freeways. All that does is ensure that 20 years later, either you can't add more lanes, or to add more lanes costs billions of $$$. I think they're digging the trench in Denver to accommodate one more future lane, but I think it was an unnecessary expense.