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Walkable Bridges Over Interstates and Other Freeways

Started by Grzrd, April 15, 2015, 11:15:23 AM

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SignGeek101

Quote from: Grzrd on June 10, 2015, 08:19:54 PM
Here is a snip of it:



This is similar to a new freeway being built to connect Canada and the US at the new Detroit- Windsor crossing, only this one is mostly for pedestrians and cyclists.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV17bUkP5FY

Go to 0:35, 1:16, 1:23 and 1:43.


Bruce

Quote from: SignGeek101 on June 10, 2015, 08:32:27 PM

This is similar to a new freeway being built to connect Canada and the US at the new Detroit- Windsor crossing, only this one is mostly for pedestrians and cyclists.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV17bUkP5FY

Go to 0:35, 1:16, 1:23 and 1:43.

Actually, your example is well known and used around Seattle as park lids over freeways. We have them over I-90 on Mercer Island, over I-90 near the Mount Baker Tunnel, over I-5 in Downtown Seattle, and several new ones either built recently or proposed on State Route 520.

lepidopteran

Would this count?  Decking and building over the "open" gap of I-395 in DC.  This might be considered more of a tunnel, though.

http://capitolcrossingdc.com/#phasing

Bruce

Quote from: lepidopteran on June 12, 2015, 07:08:34 PM
Would this count?  Decking and building over the "open" gap of I-395 in DC.  This might be considered more of a tunnel, though.

http://capitolcrossingdc.com/#phasing

That is definitely a lid. Also counts as a tunnel, just like the other lids.

1995hoo

Quote from: cpzilliacus on May 18, 2015, 03:09:03 PM
There's a an attractive structure that carries the Appalachian Trail over I-70 in Maryland.

I-270 and I-495 are spanned by a trail that was re-purposed from a trolley line (service was abandoned in the 1930's).

There are several bike/pedestrian bridges that span D.C. 295.

There are at least two bike/pedestrian bridges over I-395 in Virginia (one at Shirlington Circle, one at Seminary Road).

Further south in that same corridor, there is a long bike/ped bridge over I-95 south of Springfield, near Va.289 (Franconia-Springfield Parkway).

The one you mention at Seminary Road has been demolished and is to be replaced by something new as part of the current construction going on there to build an HOV ramp on the interchange's south side–they're using that construction as an opportunity to do some additional reconstruction, although it barely scratches the surface of what needs to be done there.

I-495 in Virginia has two pedestrian/bike bridges, one adjacent to Wakefield Park near the Braddock Road interchange (was Exit 5, I think now it's Exit 54), the other just north of the I-66 interchange. The latter carries the W&OD Trail over the Beltway. But neither of these gives much of a feel of isolation from the highway in the way suggested by the original post. I don't really think the Shirlington one does either. It's been years since I've used that bridge, but I remember it felt like you're on display to all the traffic passing down below.

I-395 also has, or had, a pedestrian tunnel passing under it alongside Holmes Run at the bottom of the hill between Duke Street and Seminary Road. I have never gone through it and I don't have much desire to do so because I've heard it's a bit dark and usually very damp and creepy. I should ask my brother about it since he used to live right nearby off Beauregard Street. I think I read somewhere there may be plans to seal off the tunnel, but I may be mistaken on that. I know the City of Alexandria planned to seal off another pedestrian tunnel underneath the train tracks that pass under Telegraph Road by its interchange with Duke Street.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

froggie

QuoteI-395 also has, or had, a pedestrian tunnel passing under it alongside Holmes Run at the bottom of the hill between Duke Street and Seminary Road.

Has (present tense, not past).  Though you describe the tunnel pretty well (dark and damp), it's hard to tell you're actually passing under a freeway at that spot.  There are no plans to seal off that tunnel, as it provides a critical link in the Holmes Run Trail.  In fact, the city has long-term plans to reconstruct the trail in that area.

QuoteI know the City of Alexandria planned to seal off another pedestrian tunnel underneath the train tracks that pass under Telegraph Road by its interchange with Duke Street.

That tunnel has been sealed for some years now...it was replaced by a bike/ped path on the widened Telegraph Rd bridge over the rail tracks.

1995hoo

Thanks. The part about isolation from I-395 when you go through the tunnel is sort of what the OP was getting at even if he didn't mention tunnels.

I believe the similar, though much smaller, tunnel under Pickett Road in Fairfax near the ball fields has been closed. I used it a few times when I was growing up and it was always dark and dank. It's one reason I avoided the Holmes Run tunnel.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

bugo

There's an old tunnel underneath old US 64 (Charles Page Blvd) and another under old US 66 (11th St) in Tulsa. From what I understand, both have been locked shut. I can see why, as they were most likely dark and damp and a haven for criminal activity.

Grzrd

This article describes current efforts in Fayetteville, Arkansas to design pedestrian-friendly crossings over I-49:

Quote
City officials are working with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department to come up with the best way for pedestrians to cross Interstate 49 at three interchanges being redesigned.
"When you look at Interstate 49 right now, it really divides our city, whether you're a pedestrian or on a bike or in a car," Alderman Matthew Petty, chairman of the City Council's Transportation Committee, said last week. "Getting back and forth across I-49 is a hassle for everybody." ....
"It's really critical as these interchange projects come through that we get that (pedestrian) connectivity across the highway," City Engineer Chris Brown said. "This is essentially our one opportunity, in our generation anyway, to get this done." ....
The Highway Department's initial concept for the Garland Avenue interchange showed two additional lanes of traffic on a widened bridge over I-49. Six-foot-wide sidewalks were planned on either side of the bridge with bike lanes between lanes of traffic and the sidewalks.
"In a situation like that, with five lanes of traffic and everything that's going on across a busy bridge, we just didn't feel like the bike lanes would be utilized or appropriate," Brown told the City Council last week.
City officials, instead, suggested removing the bike lanes and building a 12-foot-wide trail -- or "side path" -- on the west side of the bridge.
Brown said the side path is important, because it's supposed to be a key link in the city's trail system.
It would connect the Shiloh Trail, which will eventually run along the west side of the interstate, to the Clabber Creek Trail, a section of which will run north on Garland Avenue to Van Asche Drive. City officials also plan to build a trail on the east side of I-49, down McConnell Drive, past Arkansas Athletes Outreach and the Washington County Fairgrounds, to the Meadow Valley Trail.
Highway Department officials last month agreed to build the side path at the city's expense. But their design didn't include any type of barrier between the trail and street traffic -- just a 5-foot paved buffer.
"The plans that we got back aren't safe," Petty said. "A lane departure there would be deadly when you have a 2-ton vehicle crashing into someone on a 20-pound bike."
City officials requested a concrete parapet wall between pedestrians and cars. But the Highway Department wasn't amenable to the idea.
Brown said a wall could increase project cost, especially if the bridge has to be widened further. Trinity Smith, head of the Highway Department's Roadway Design Division, said the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' guide for developing bicycle facilities only recommends physical barriers or railings when there isn't at least 5 feet of separation between a pedestrian path and a roadway.
"The proposed bridge cross-section provides the minimum 5 feet," Smith said by email Friday.
According to Brown, Highway Department officials recommended another type of barrier -- planter boxes or bollards, for instance -- but nothing had been decided by Friday.
Brown and Petty said they'd be OK with the planters or bollards. They just want a plan in place before the city commits $170,000 for the side path ....
While city and state officials near a solution for the Garland Avenue overpass, plans for the Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard interchanges are unclear.

It will be interesting to see the end result of the Garland Avenue overpass.




Meanwhile, this July 3 TV video reports on the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway* in south Bossier Parish, Louisiana.  From a distance, I give it a low grade for walkability:



* not a freeway, but I mention it anyway.



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