Earlier this month, Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) released its 2014 Freeways Without Futures report, which lists the top opportunities in North America for replacing aging urban highways with boulevards or avenues that connect with local street networks.
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2014 Freeways Without Futures |
2012 Freeways Without Futures |
| I-10/Claiborne Overpass, New Orleans
I-81, Syracuse, NY Gardiner Expressway, Toronto Route 5/Skyway, Buffalo, NY Inner Loop, Rochester, NY I-70, St. Louis I-280, San Francisco I-375, Detroit Terminal Island Freeway, Long Beach Aetna Viaduct, Hartford, CT |
I-10/Claiborne Overpass, New Orleans
I-895/Sheridan Expressway, Bronx, NYC Route 34/Oak Street Connector, New Haven, CT Route 5/Skyway, Buffalo, NY I-395/Overtown Expressway, Miami I-70, St. Louis West Shoreway, Cleveland I-490/Inner Loop, Rochester, NY I-81, Syracuse, NY Gardiner Expressway, Toronto |
Although the list includes freeways throughout North America, 40 percent of the list is made up of opportunities in New York and Connecticut (show in bold). Three of the projects in particular (highlighted in red) also showed up on the 2012 list.
Connecticut has a newcomer in Hartford’s Aetna Viaduct, which the local government has explored alternatives for, but has eliminated the boulevard option. As planning continues to move forward, officials should consider how they can encourage Interstate 84 users to switch modes to alleviate traffic and expand the potential alternatives to include a roadway that is more appropriate for downtown Hartford’s urban landscape. Mode shift in central Connecticut will be a more realistic goal after the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail corridor is completed, and especially after the CTfastrak BRT system — which has six stations along I-84 near the viaduct — opens in 2015.
In addition, three of the five Campaigns to Watch “showing the most movement and opportunity for setting new precedents in urban freeway removal” (though not listed among the top 10 Freeways Without Futures) are also in New York: NYS Route 198/Scajaquada Expressway, Buffalo; Robert Moses Parkway, Niagara Falls; and I-895/Sheridan Expressway, New York City (Bronx).
The Sheridan Expressway remains at a critical juncture and there’s no guarantee it will be transformed into the boulevard that the Bloomberg administration recommended last December. Action must still be taken by both NYSDOT and the de Blasio administration. As the budget process moves forward, NYSDOT must heed the call for a full EIS of the Direct-Access Ramps recommendation.
Clearly much work remains to be done in New York and Connecticut. Both states need to move more quickly and boldly to change these roadways from impediments to assets in the local communities.
The busway that cost more than just reinstating some form of rail, the busway that makes it harder to have Waerbury to Hartford rail access, the busway that will be slower than rail (see the Los Angeles Orange Line), this busway will somehow be the alternative to I-84. This also doesn’t deal with the problem that I84 is a major through route and though I prefer I84- route 15 – I91 – I691 to get through the Hartford area, my wife doesn’t.