Highways Transformed into Parks
"Before & After" look from "Arch Daily" - 6 cities that built highways but have now transformed them into urban parks: Portland, Seoul, San Francisco, Madrid, Milwaukee, and Seattle. Click HERE .
In Memphis, the story is different. In 1969, a plan for a 16-lane expressway along our riverfront was rejected, and, in 1971, a U.S. Supreme Court decision protected Overton Park from an interstate.
We escaped the full blow, and, yet, today, it's hard to get rid of the parking garages, lots, and interstate bridge ramps built on riverfront parkland. What's the best way to mediate Riverside Drive and slow down its traffic - reduce it to 2 lanes with a green median, close it, police it? Meanwhile in Overton Park, Memphis is heading in the opposite direction of major world cities; plans call for turning parkland into a bigger parking lot.