Artist/architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser had some similar ideas about burying highways and using parkland to absorb some of their emissions, both chemical and auditory - his "invisible, inaudible Green Motorway":<p>* <a href="http://www.pithandvigor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/underground_tunnel_hundertwasser.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.pithandvigor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/under...</a> (linked as part of this blog post: <a href="http://www.pithandvigor.com/diy-projects/materials/friedensreich-hundertwasser/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pithandvigor.com/diy-projects/materials/friedensr...</a>)<p>* <a href="http://www.hundertwasser.com/arch/view-25slashXIII" rel="nofollow">http://www.hundertwasser.com/arch/view-25slashXIII</a><p>* <a href="http://www.hundertwasser.com/arch/view-25slashXII" rel="nofollow">http://www.hundertwasser.com/arch/view-25slashXII</a><p>* <a href="http://www.hundertwasser.com/arch/view-25slashV" rel="nofollow">http://www.hundertwasser.com/arch/view-25slashV</a>
Seattle area has another, much more similar highway concealment project that's already built - the I90 on the Mercer Island is partially underground, with the "roof" being used for things like parks. Unfortunately, not the whole length of it is buried, so there is still plenty of highway noise throughout the island.<p>Mercer Island made me think all auto roads should be built like this, and surface should be entirely reserved for pedestrians, bikes and the like.
I hope this is a trend. Highways are ugly and smelly and noisy and dangerous. Parks are pretty, safe, and quiet. I wish that all urban highways could be underground, with parks and residences and bike/walking paths above ground.
I've started to wonder if some of the land shortage in San Francisco could be mitigated by either burying some roads or probably more realistically, just constructing buildings over the roads. I'd love to see a series of 1-unit deep apartments running down the middle of California or Gough. Hell, build a few skyscrapers over 80 in SOMA.<p>It'll never happen, but one can dream.
I've always wondered if something like this was possible. chicago is a prime candidate; lake shore drive produces an insane amount of noise and ruins an incredible stretch of beach.
A bit like Teralta Park over I-15 in City Heights, San Diego. CalTrans was supposed to have 3 - 4 covers over the freeway, with parks, shopping and housing over it, but only one cover was completed.
<a href="http://sandiegofreepress.org/2013/08/i-15-in-city-heights-how-a-freeway-that-divided-the-community-became-an-urban-monument-to-citizen-activism/" rel="nofollow">http://sandiegofreepress.org/2013/08/i-15-in-city-heights-ho...</a>
Zürich, Switzerland is trying to do the same since 30 years. <a href="http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zuerich/stadt/Schwamendingen-muss-weiter-auf-die-Einhausung-warten/story/17599823" rel="nofollow">http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zuerich/stadt/Schwamendingen-mus...</a>
> The project is projected to cost $800 million<p>What a steal. The Big Dig buried less road and cost 20-30 times more.<p>I wonder why infrastructure costs are so out of control in the U.S. We should ask Germany or Japan to build California's high speed rail for us.
Berlin has something like this, on the Sat view you can see that there is a park on top:<p><a href="https://www.google.de/maps/dir/52.4606291,13.4151826/52.4630419,13.4465243/@52.4619811,13.4292444,1399m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d13.4462406!2d52.4630015!3s0x47a84f77449b9a3d:0x76492ebca2963b0d!1m0!3e0" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.de/maps/dir/52.4606291,13.4151826/52.4630...</a>
Funny, this tunnel is in the 100-200 million euro range. Could have a positive social impact. Yet they make compromises and ruin it's value. Raising it 3,5m into the air to save some money? Can it really be called underground then?<p>The elbphilharmonie is at 800 million now. It will mostly make money for private hands (public private partnership) and will leave hamburg in dept for decades. Welcome to a CDU town.
Similar is planned for Nürnberg with an 1.8km tunnel with green roof:<p><a href="http://www.nuernberg.de/internet/soer/frankenschnellwegplaene.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nuernberg.de/internet/soer/frankenschnellwegplaen...</a><p>The plans are currently lying at court because of some opponents.
They should bury the long stretch that leads into the Holland Tunnel in NYC. Then create one continuous residential area.<p><a href="http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/149186.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/149186.jpg</a>
I'm curious how Seattle was supposed to replace an elevated freeway that is falling aprt with a park? I guess they could replace the parking lot that is currently under the freeway.