Cap over Belk Freeway (277)

[kermit]

Sounds like the prospects for a $10 billion pilot program for urban highway removal funds are good.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/01/11/senate-considering-10b-highway-removal-bill/

[Desert Power]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Sounds like the prospects for a $10 billion pilot program for urban highway removal funds are good.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/01/11/senate-considering-10b-highway-removal-bill/

That sounds very promising.

[kermit]

What a waste of valuable space. Why are we OK with this?

 

[kermit]

As the Gateway to Gastonia, if 277 were a river Charlotte could have provided the global supply chain with a viable alternative route to Suez. We would have been the saviors of the global maritime economy. Charlotte needs to think bigger!

 

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by kermit

[KJHburg]

53 minutes ago, kermit said:

As the Gateway to Gastonia, if 277 were a river Charlotte could have provided the global supply chain with a viable alternative route to Suez. We would have been the saviors of the global maritime economy. Charlotte needs to think bigger!

this is is serious traffic jam in the world commerce lanes.  

Suez Canal Ship Blockage Closer to Resolution on Efforts to Move Ship - Bloomberg

[kermit]

[kermit]

How many more reasons do we need to tear it down?

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by kermit

[KJHburg]

why I am not in favor of a cap over 277 freeway being publicly funded but why not allow the air rights to be developed?  Like this the Atlanta Financial Center over Georgia 400 home of Truist Securities in Buckhead.   That is a MARTA station in the middle the Buckhead station. 

what is the update on the Rail Trail bridge over 277?  when will it start construction?

 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by KJHburg

[JacksonH]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

why I am not in favor of a cap over 277 freeway being publicly funded but why not allow the air rights to be developed?  Like this the Atlanta Financial Center over Georgia 400 home of Truist Securities in Buckhead. 

I think it's about an opportunity for improving quality of life in the city center.  If you fill that whole space over 277 with buildings instead of something natural, there's a happiness factor that is forever lost.  That Atlanta image makes me feel claustrophobic.  I would much prefer something like The Lid in Seattle or the High Line in New York.  These "common good" projects have been enormously successful for those cities and have greatly improved livability.  So much so that I think Seattle is doing more of them.  And that's not getting in the way of Seattle's huge boom.

Edited April 18, 2021 by JacksonH

[kermit]

53 minutes ago, JacksonH said:

I think it's about an opportunity for improving quality of life in the city center.

I agree, the less tangible, long-term, ROI on a cap, or the much larger ROI achieved from removal, make this a project that is fiscally foolish not to do.

[JacksonH]

Exactly.  And this is particularly important for Charlotte because it already ranks so low among cities in public parks per capita.  Given how long a cap over 277 could potentially be, I would not be opposed to setting aside a portion of it for selling air rights as that could help pay for the rest of the project, but the majority should be left to build a sizable public park.  

Americans love to visit Europe because of their cities, and European cities are wonderful because of their architecture,  the symmetry  of their buildings, and their parks and other public spaces.  If Charlotte cedes all its authority to corporations to do whatever they want, and it's nothing but buildings everywhere of all shapes and sizes and no uniformity and no space for freedom and fresh air, it will become an inhospitable place.

[tozmervo]

58 minutes ago, JacksonH said:

Americans love to visit Europe because of their cities, and European cities are wonderful because of their architecture,  the symmetry  of their buildings, and their parks and other public spaces.  If Charlotte cedes all its authority to corporations to do whatever they want, and it's nothing but buildings everywhere of all shapes and sizes and no uniformity and no space for freedom and fresh air, it will become an inhospitable place.

Public spaces certainly, but parks are rarely a strong feature of European cities for historic development reasons. Even some of the exceptions, like Parc Guell in Barcelona, started life as a private enclave that was only made public (or semi public) later. 

[RANYC]

4 hours ago, JacksonH said:

I think it's about an opportunity for improving quality of life in the city center.  If you fill that whole space over 277 with buildings instead of something natural, there's a happiness factor that is forever lost.  That Atlanta image makes me feel claustrophobic.  I would much prefer something like The Lid in Seattle or the High Line in New York.  These "common good" projects have been enormously successful for those cities and have greatly improved livability.  So much so that I think Seattle is doing more of them.  And that's not getting in the way of Seattle's huge boom.

Honestly, I'd be OK with the Belk just as it is if we could get that kind of structured landscaping along its banks

[JacksonH]

3 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Public spaces certainly, but parks are rarely a strong feature of European cities for historic development reasons. Even some of the exceptions, like Parc Guell in Barcelona, started life as a private enclave that was only made public (or semi public) later. 

I should have said parks and squares.  There's an abundance in European cities.  It's been many years since I was in Barcelona, but I do recall a sense of openness along Las Ramblas.  I think there are also quite a few parks.

2 hours ago, RANYC said:

Honestly, I'd be OK with the Belk just as it is if we could get that kind of structured landscaping along its banks

Yeah, I hear you.  They could really beautify that stretch with proper landscaping.  I hadn't even thought of that.  It could look fantastic doing that and wouldn't require a huge investment.  I'd still prefer a cap, though, so there would be a decent area in the city for recreation.  But simple landscaping would still be a vast mprovement over the cold, sterile look it has now.

[Madison Parkitect]

4 hours ago, RANYC said:

Honestly, I'd be OK with the Belk just as it is if we could get that kind of structured landscaping along its banks

Freeway Park in Seattle is an absolutely beautiful example of board-formed concrete and Brutalist architecture with an incredible fountain system, but there was crime there back in the 70s and people stopped going there. It's coming back but still not activated like it should be. Charlotte would be incredibly lucky to have something like Freeway Park.

[RANYC]

9 hours ago, JacksonH said:

I think it's about an opportunity for improving quality of life in the city center.  If you fill that whole space over 277 with buildings instead of something natural, there's a happiness factor that is forever lost.  That Atlanta image makes me feel claustrophobic.  I would much prefer something like The Lid in Seattle or the High Line in New York.  These "common good" projects have been enormously successful for those cities and have greatly improved livability.  So much so that I think Seattle is doing more of them.  And that's not getting in the way of Seattle's huge boom.

Honestly, I'd be OK with the Belk just as it is if we could get that kind of structured landscaping along its banks

[JacksonH]

^^^Wow!  That's stunning.  It looks like paradise inside the city.

[Desert Power]

2 hours ago, JacksonH said:

I should have said parks and squares.  There's an abundance in European cities.  It's been many years since I was in Barcelona, but I do recall a sense of openness along Las Ramblas.  I think there are also quite a few parks.

Yeah, I thought that was odd too. Most European cities have parks pretty famously around some of their attractions. I stayed near the Trocadero in Paris and Green Park in London each the last times I was there

[KJHburg]

How about ivy walls like this on Houston's I-69 SW freeway?   But since ours are more hillsides there are plenty of flowers the city could plant on the banks to spruce it up.  NC has a good wildflower program but not really done a lot in the urban areas. 

[DMann]

Anyone have any information about the pedistrian bridge over 277 by the light rail?  I thought this was funded.

[Mgelbach]

17 minutes ago, DMann said:

Anyone have any information about the pedistrian bridge over 277 by the light rail?  I thought this was funded.

I think last I heard was that it was still in engineering, however I might be wrong. It did sound like it wasn't stalled or anything though!

[Blue_Devil]

Once that is built I can Scoot to work and never be on a street.  

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Rail trail bridge over 277 is crucial to getting more south end people into uptown.  Tons of ppl use the rail trail and never take the detour to get into uptown once they reach the end of the trail at Camden apartments...they just turn around, which is very unfortunate.  The pedestrian bridge connecting Stonewall station to the convention center is nice too, but my question is, what are the plans (if any) to continue this through the convention center?  There probably aren't any plans but really wish the rail trail was designed a little better uptown.  I know uptown had different parameters during the time this was built but would love an active and fluid rail trail through uptown.

[kermit]

^ This!

With the bridge the Stonewall WholeFoods and other retail suddenly becomes very walkable / bikeable to upper Southend.

[videtur quam contuor]

Years ago I tried walking the rail line bridge over 277. With the weekend headways I knew I had time to make it, disregarding the warning signs. The issue for me was that I was walking on ballast stones and the unevenness and rolling and shifting underfoot made it an ankle turning event awaiting. Stranded mid-bridge was not what I had considered. When I arrived at the Westin deck I was happy to return by sidewalk and never tried this again. 

The pedestrian bridge that was to accompany the rail line was cut in a budget move mid-construction. It should return.