As plans progress in many large cities to cap their below-grade urban freeways, smaller cities, like Ventura, California, are looking to benefit from similar proposals.
In an effort to heal the wounds inflicted on their urban fabric and historic neighborhoods by highway projects of the last century, several cities in Southern California are exploring the possibility of covering their below-grade freeways with parks and redevelopment. The latest city to jump on the bandwagon is Ventura, located 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Funded by a grant from the regional metropolitan planning organization, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), a design team has proposed capping a two to three block stretch of U.S. 101 through the Ventura's highly-visited downtown. As Arlene Martinez of the Ventura County Star reports, the newly available land on top of the freeway cap could possibly contain "...a conference center, a transportation hub for trains and buses, and a mix of retail and commercial uses..." Tentatively priced at $400 million, the proposal is still very much a "concept," with the exact price contingent upon various other factors.
"To be able to reorganize and restore the urban fabric that we used to have would be unbelievably huge to the city in so many ways I can't even count them," said Bill Fulton, the former Ventura mayor who now is vice president of Smart Growth America, a Washington, D.C., urban planning think tank. "The question is, if we can pull that off."
The cap in Ventura echoes similar efforts in Southern California to cap the 101 Freeway, such as the much larger mile-long Hollywood Central Park and half-mile downtown L.A. cap, estimated to cost $1 billion and $700 million, respectively.
Read the full story: Freeway 'cap' could reunite downtown with the ocean
Ventura, CA Transitions To Paid Parking, Under Mayor Bill Fulton
Like anything 'free', it's difficult to make the transition to charging, especially when you are City Hall, but pay stations are on their way that will apply charges on the busier streets to 10pm or midnight while the parking garage will be 'free'.
Austin Officials Pump the Brakes on I-35 ‘Cap & Stitch’ Project
The city approved a plan to build cap parks over parts of I-35 less than a year ago.
Philadelphia’s ‘Chinatown Stitch’ Freeway Cap in Danger After Feds Retract Funding
A project 15 years in the making would reconnect Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood after decades of being split in half by a roadway.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
This MA town is drowning in its own sewage — and residents like it that way
Susan Murcott, a waste water expert, said if Carlisle didn't address their leaking sewage, the problem could turn “deadly.”
Iowa taxpayers are paying thousands to clean manure out of their water
While the Clean Water Act makes states responsible for regulating factory farms that discharge pollutants, Iowa has turned a blind eye to the polluting farms.
Amtrak cuts ribbon on Seattle Airo maintenance facility
The $250 million, nearly 100,000-square-foot building can house an entire Cascades Airo trainset.
To power data centers, Google seeks autonomous control of thousands of homes’ electricity
The tech company has signed a deal to indirectly pay Mid-Atlantic residents to reduce their power demand when the grid is strained.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello