This group has since brought in Toole Design Group to take a fresh look at the CityMAP plan in order to improve design options and demonstrate feasibility.Īs plans are put in place for the highway’s removal, The Coalition for a New Dallas thinks that it’s critical for the city to take steps to combat displacement that could result from such a serious improvement. The agency’s 2016 Dallas CityMAP plan confirmed that the effects of removing I-345 would be overwhelmingly positive.Ī New Dallas has since grown into The Coalition for a New Dallas, a non-profit and Political Action Committee composed of a broad and diverse group of advocates and civic leaders. In this context, the transformation of I-275 has become part of a larger effort to improve transportation options across Tampa Bay.įor nearly a decade, local advocacy group A New Dallas has repeatedly demonstrated the enormous benefits of removing I-345 to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has said that his city should explore removing I-175, which separates downtown from nearby neighborhoods. What once was seen as a fringe idea has built momentum and spread around Tampa Bay. With a flexible boulevard design, the new street can be sensitive to local context and change accordingly so that the density built around it gradually increases as it approaches downtown. The removal of the highway would reclaim 36 acres of developable land in neighborhoods that are some of the most protected in Tampa from rising sea-levels. A boulevard along this route provides Tampa a new urban spine that links its residential neighborhoods with downtown. The transformation of I-275 into a boulevard also prepares Tampa for future sustainable growth. Because I-275’s right-of-way is so large, the opportunity exists to fit public transit into its footprint, either in the form of light commuter rail, bus rapid transit, or a modern streetcar, further reducing the need for trips by car. #blvdtampa and its allies have set out to prove the benefits the city could reap by transforming up to 11 miles of I-275 in northern Tampa into a multiway boulevard, a type of landscaped street that separates through traffic from local traffic and creates an engaging pedestrian realm. Since the Interstate isn’t operating as a throughway (its intended purpose), could another type of street handle traffic and achieve other community goals at the same time? Founder Josh Frank started the campaign when he examined traffic patterns along I-275 and saw that the majority of vehicles that travel it have both local origins and destinations within city limits. The #blvdtampa movement envisions a future for Tampa without I-275. While these plans differ in scope and scale, they share a single principle: they all seek to repurpose the space the highway occupies in ways that improve the quality of life for residents along the corridor. In Brooklyn, advocates and community groups have advanced a number of different alternatives for Robert Moses’ Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, from outright removal to a series of caps. Increasing public transit reduces dependence on the highway.įinally, consider a range of beneficial transformations. In both Tampa and Dallas, conversations about removing highways have gone hand-in-hand with significant planned upgrades for each city’s public transportation networks. Second, make parallel investments in public transit. In Tampa, the Hillsborough County MPO is exploring the eventual removal of I-275, but right now the City of Tampa is working to transform Ashley Drive, effectively one of the highway’s ramps to downtown, into a more pedestrian-friendly boulevard. How can communities begin to tackle such divisive roads?įirst, start small to demonstrate the benefits. Freeways Without Futures 2021 tells the stories of Highways to Boulevards projects that buck this status quo and seek to reconnect the communities these major highways divide. It separates neighborhoods, pollutes residents’ homes, and drives disinvestment, but since it’s been deemed vital for traffic, there’s little impetus to do anything about it. Nearly every city in America has one: the big highway that runs across its center.
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