• Removing I-794 is a ‘generational opportunity’

    A new study shows that demolishing a second freeway spur in downtown Milwaukee could provide housing for 4,200 people and $1.1 billion in property value.
    Milwaukee was a cradle of freeway removal in the US, with the pioneering teardown of the Park East Expressway. The $25 million project (in the early 2000s) has spurred more than a billion dollars in downtown development. Twenty-four blocks of mixed-use urbanism were opened up for redevelopment on...Read more

  • From expressway to parkway

    The plan for the Scajaquada Expressway would help bridge the divide in the central part of Buffalo, New York, bringing back the glories of an Olmsted-designed greenway.
    At the same time that New York State is looking at burying a freeway in Buffalo, the state DOT is also studying a plan to replace the 3.5-mile-long Scajaquada Expressway with a parkway and boulevard. Since the 1950s, the Scajaquada Expressway in Buffalo has divided a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed...Read more

  • Looking to transform I-375 synergistically

    Officials should consider the connections that were in place before the highway when planning to remove a mile-long Detroit Interstate in lieu of a surface street.
    Like many highways that have appeared on CNU's Freeways Without Futures list over the last decade and a half, I-375 in Detroit remains in place yet a source of controversy. Michigan DOT is still considering taking out the mile-long Interstate near downtown and replacing it with a surface street—but...Read more

  • Vision plan released for transforming I-81 in Syracuse

    The Community Grid proposal takes a broad planning approach to seven neighborhoods, districts, and corridors that could be changed and redeveloped following the demolition of the I-81 viaduct that has long overshadowed the city center.
    Syracuse and the New York State DOT are moving ahead with plans to demolish the aging I-81 viaduct through downtown and restore a “community grid.” Until this week, what that means has not been entirely clear. Syracuse is now releasing its Community Grid Vision Plan 2024 , which offers ideas for...Read more