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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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Grzrd

Quote from: codyg1985 on April 15, 2015, 06:47:37 AM
Quote from: Bobby5280 on April 15, 2015, 12:08:43 AM
I'm all for improving walk-ability and accommodating bicyclists, but tearing down existing freeways especially when they're a major route is a non-starter. Urban designers need to think a little more creatively with improving walk-ability around things like major traffic corridors. A good example is the intersection with North High Street and I-670 near downtown Columbus, Ohio. The bridge over the Interstate was altered so the street could be flanked on both sides with some new shops, like bars, a steak house, a coffee shop. It filled a gap in a trendy, night life oriented part of the city. The freeway bridge seemed like a barrier before, but now it's hardly visible to any of the foot traffic crossing that bridge.
Now that is cool ...
(above quote from I49 in LA thread)

The above discussion reminded me how much I like the Fifth Street Bridge over the I-75/85 Downtown Connector in Atlanta.  It serves to provide a good connection for Georgia Tech's main campus with some other school buildings on the other side of the interstate.  The wide sidewalks and the landscaping provide a decent escape from the interstate below:



Do forum members have other favorite "pedestrian friendly" bridges over interstates and other freeways?


NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

BrianP


Bruce

All of Seattle's freeway park lids: Freeway Park and the Convention Center in Downtown, the Mercer Island Lid, Mount Baker Lid, the new SR 520 lids on the Eastside...

Very walkable. Though Freeway Park is full of brutalist architecture and is kind of sketchy.

lepidopteran

One of the first bridges you encounter in Brooklyn, NY, if going EB on the Belt Parkway after crossing the Verrazano, is a unique arch-like pedestrian overpass.  The clearance at the ends is only 10'6", but then again, trucks are not permitted on the Belt Parkway.  The bridge is used to access a trail that runs between the Parkway and New York Harbor, and is located in Bath Beach, even though there is no "beach" as we know it there, at least not today.

The Nature Boy

Does the pedestrian bridge at the service plaza in Angola, New York count?

empirestate

Quote from: The Nature Boy on April 20, 2015, 07:21:50 PM
Does the pedestrian bridge at the service plaza in Angola, New York count?

I'm going to guess not, because the spirit of the thread seems to about bridges over freeways that are conducive to walking as a general means of getting around town. A service area pedestrian bridge that connects only a building to its parking area way out in an undeveloped rural area wouldn't seem to fit that description.

empirestate


Quote from: Hoss6884 on April 21, 2015, 11:41:22 AM
I wouldn't call my hometown (Belle Vernon, PA) a metropolitan center, but there is this pedestrian bridge over I-70 a few miles east of the Belle Vernon-Speers Bridge.
http://goo.gl/zHShAX

I can't say that pedestrian bridge looks particularly "walkable", at least not in the sense of the OP's "escape from the Interstate."


iPhone

CtrlAltDel

Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

MikeTheActuary

Mortenson Plaza in Hartford CT.

It lies at the west end of the pedestrian walkway / bike path on the Founders Bridge (CT 2) across the Connecticut River in downtown Hartford, and forms part of the pedestrian/park access to the riverfront, across the interstate from downtown.

While it's mostly an over-highway park/plaza, there are places on the south side where you can stand and look down on I-91.

mobilene

Indianapolis, I-65, just east of the 38th St. exit, there's this pedestrian bridge. I-65 bisected a neighborhood here and I assume this was built in a feeble attempt to reconnect the two sides.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.815816,-86.185171,3a,75y,296.64h,90.53t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s5ukw7vGE-hDe12_oJTl7QA!2e0
jim grey | Indianapolis, Indiana

CtrlAltDel

#11
Quote from: mobilene on April 23, 2015, 04:05:30 PM
Indianapolis, I-65, just east of the 38th St. exit, there's this pedestrian bridge. I-65 bisected a neighborhood here and I assume this was built in a feeble attempt to reconnect the two sides.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.815816,-86.185171,3a,75y,296.64h,90.53t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s5ukw7vGE-hDe12_oJTl7QA!2e0

That sort of thing isn't what the OP is looking for at all. OP is looking for things like Sam Smith Park in Seattle, except maybe not as wide.
Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

J N Winkler

I think we need to define what we are looking at with a little more specificity.  The following potentially qualify:

*  Freeway lids

*  Pedestrian-only overbridges

*  Road bridges with sidewalks that pass over freeways

It sounds to me like the OP is looking for examples of any of these types that do an unusually good job of reducing or eliminating psychological severance from the freeway.  There will be some examples of this that are not necessarily lids.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

Grzrd

Quote from: J N Winkler on April 24, 2015, 02:32:23 PM
I think we need to define what we are looking at with a little more specificity.  The following potentially qualify:
*  Freeway lids
*  Pedestrian-only overbridges
*  Road bridges with sidewalks that pass over freeways
It sounds to me like the OP is looking for examples of any of these types that do an unusually good job of reducing or eliminating psychological severance from the freeway.  There will be some examples of this that are not necessarily lids.

I was initially looking for any of the above listed types that do an unusually good job of reducing or eliminating psychological awareness of the freeway.

Above said, after reading some of the posts, occasional examples that do an unusually poor job of of reducing or eliminating psychological awareness of the freeway are now welcome because they help to provide perspective on other jobs well done.

Apologies for any confusion.

lepidopteran

The George Washington Memorial Parkway is like this where it crosses the Capital Beltway in Alexandria, VA.  This was part of the multi-year Woodrow Wilson Bridge project.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7933017,-77.0496225,365m/data=!3m1!1e3

DeaconG

Dawnstar: "You're an ape! And you can talk!"
King Solovar: "And you're a human with wings! Reality holds surprises for everyone!"
-Crisis On Infinite Earths #2

pumpkineater2

Come ride with me to the distant shore...

Tom958

Quote from: Grzrd on April 15, 2015, 11:15:23 AM...how much I like the Fifth Street Bridge over the I-75/85 Downtown Connector in Atlanta.  It serves to provide a good connection for Georgia Tech's main campus with some other school buildings on the other side of the interstate.  The wide sidewalks and the landscaping provide a decent escape from the interstate below...

That bridge was replaced in the late '80's under Freeing the Freeways, then replaced again--as opposed to being widened in situ-- as what we see now. From here you can see that a new abutment was built about six or seven feet back from the previous one, which of course aligned with the retaining wall. That's the east side; the west side was moved outboard, too, though it's not as obvious since it's free standing. I have to wonder why they did that.

I like the result, too, though I wish that they'd thought to build it like that in the '80's.

cwf1701

What about the 3 park like Bridges in the middle section of I-696 in Oakland County? these bridges was built to allow Jews who don't drive on the Sabbath and allow them to go to the Synagogue in the area.

SignGeek101


roadman65

Does not Central Park in NYC have them over the Transverse Roads?  Even the road bridges have the pedestrian jogging and walk paths long side of them and each bridge over the Transverse Roads have bushes covering the railings that unless you actually look for the bridges themselves, you would not notice them  while driving or walking.

Anyway, I think some of the Transverse underpasses do not have roads on top of them, but jogging trails over them exclusively.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Pete from Boston


Quote from: roadman65 on April 30, 2015, 11:41:49 AM
Does not Central Park in NYC have them over the Transverse Roads?  Even the road bridges have the pedestrian jogging and walk paths long side of them and each bridge over the Transverse Roads have bushes covering the railings that unless you actually look for the bridges themselves, you would not notice them  while driving or walking.

Anyway, I think some of the Transverse underpasses do not have roads on top of them, but jogging trails over them exclusively.

Those roads are not freeways.

roadman65

No but they are super two's.  The only difference between a super two and the freeway proper (in ordinary use) is the amount of lanes and the divider in the median.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

nexus73

Eugene OR has a ped/bike bridge over I-5 between I-105 and SR 569 and another one on Delta Highway (which is a freeway at the point I mention) between I-105 and SR 569.

Rick
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.

hobsini2

There is a ped bridge on I-294 just south of Ogden Ave in Hinsdale, IL.

There are also a couple of ped bridges over I-290 between Harlem Ave and the Loop. Those bridges are the continuation of the following streets: Home Ave, LaVenge Ave, Kildare Ave, Springfield Ave, Albany Ave, andMaplewood Ave.
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)



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