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Could we actually get rid of I-95 downtown?
A local urban policy researcher has a bold proposal: Get rid of the three-mile stretch of I-95 between the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges. Yep, just get rid of it.
Could we actually get rid of I-95 downtown?
“Where are the cars going to go?” That was the rhetorical question posed by Peter Park, who has been the planning director of Milwaukee and Denver, at a forum last night hosted by the Academy of Natural Sciences. Titled “Reimagining Urban Highways,” the event gave six speakers the chance to talk about moving or eliminating highways that run through major American cities. In Milwaukee, for example, Park was the driving force behind a successful effort to get rid of an elevated highway that bisected the city and decreased property values around it. And if you get rid of a highway, where will the cars go? In Park’s words, “They actually may get around better.”
Other examples given at the forum for successful highway-removal projects included a freeway along Portland, Ore.’s waterfront; the West Side Highway in Manhattan; the Embarcadero, an elevated highway that used to run along San Francisco’s waterfront, which collapsed during an earthquake, was never rebuilt, and now that land is a lovely pedestrian park; and highway removals and relocations in Providence.
The local angle? Diana Lind, executive director of Next American City, a Philly nonprofit dedicated to improving urban environments, has a bold proposal: Get rid of the three-mile stretch of I-95 between the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges. Yep, just get rid of it.
In the next 20 years or so, all of I-95 will need to be rebuilt, due to age. Lind wants to not rebuild the downtown section. Columbus Boulevard would need to be beefed up to handle local traffic, as would the Schuylkill Expressway. But most long-range commuters going from, say, D.C. to New York use New Jersey options anyway.
Getting rid of I-95 would open up land development opportunities; improve air quality; and eliminate its downright ugliness.
The evening’s final speaker, Andrew Stober, chief of staff in the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, expressed blatant skepticism. (When Stober was done speaking, someone near me said, “So, it’s not going to happen.”) Stober’s main objection was financial. But when it was pointed out during the Q&A that money will need to be spent to rebuild the highway, so why not just use the money some other way, Stober sort of threw up his hands and punted, saying he didn’t know where any of the money would come from.
Getting rid of the downtown section of I-95 seems audacious and improbable. But when you hear someone like Park talk about the idea, it seems sensible and humane.
I think you're understating Stober's point: 1) 95 is a more seriously trafficked arterial corridor (even with all the area's duplication) than any of those other projects and 2) It's not that he's unsure where the money is, but that he doubts 95 will actually be rebuilt in 20 years. Just because something is _supposed_ to happen doesn't mean the federal government will actually pony up the cash and do it.— tsarstruck- Well, where does the money come from? Where does capital formation come from? Will Iran and Israel start WWIII? Gee, Mr. I don't the future and neither do you so why bother talking about it? Public discussion is necessary for the eventual plans that may happen in the future. Public brainstorming is quickly squashed by the mealy mouthed obstructionists who want to divert attention away from empowering the public to politically lead the elected officials. The best thing to do when the usual suspects groan out loud: " Do YOU EVEN know how much that will cost? or DO YOU EVEN know where in heavens name we are supposed to get the money? Earth to brain storming public discussion, cease and desist, austerity is coming, stop acting like your grand parents and get ready to take the bitter pill of downward mobility like the Greeks are doing now!! Occupy Philly? Don't even try occupying your mind with thinking about alternative future uses of capital investment in the infrastructure, that is not your job, it is the job of capital markets and their allies in government. Now go back to the new night clubs and food trucks and shut up or we will send the police with tear gas next. Have a great day in the next great city.— Fernando08
- See the last chapter of "Philadelphia's Lost Waterfront" (History Press, 2011) for the story as to how and why I-95 was built through Philly's original waterfront corridor to begin with...— cchali
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