Infrastructure As Civic Art

6 September 2002 - 9:00am

Milwaukee's new 6th Street bridge is a bold and daring design for a walkable city -- and one that the Department of Transportation nearly refused.

"Peter Park, the city planning director, says infrastructure 'should be looked on as a civic art, one whose beauty is derived from the structural expression of the elements themselves.' And the new viaduct, he predicts, could become a recruiting tool for economic development. 'If you're thinking of making an investment in the valley,' he says, 'you now have a fantastic way for your customers and employees to get there.'"

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 2, 2002
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Its very unsuitability for an urban center justifies its current usage as a suburban or ex-urban pattern.