The only problem with tearing down the highway is that people use it to get downtown. I can remember many a trip down the JFX in an overstuffed taxi to drink in Fells or... ummm... yeah, I only used it to get to Fells. With no highway, the only thing keeping motorists off the local streets is the woefully awful transit system, which makes DC look like London. Sometimes I wonder if Baltimore will ever get it right, or if screwing up consistently is part of the town's charm.
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rj3 | 12:10 PM |
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I've also heard proposals to remove the I-170 expressway (between Franklin and Mulberry east of downtown). Although it seems that it would be a lot harder to fill in a depressed expressway than to tear down an elevated expressway.
And we can always dream that the Whitehurst and the unnamed freeway which connects to the Whitehurst and the TR bridge and Constitution Ave will be removed too.
A bit of highway trivia - the word "freeway" is used much more frequently west of the Mississippi than east of it. Other than Washington DC, the only cities in which urban limited-access highways are named "freeways" are Charlotte, Raleigh, and Asheville in NC; Detroit, Flint, and Lansing in MI, and Milwaukee, WI.
I always thought the depressed (and depressing) franklin street expressway would make a good light or heavy rail corridor - going out to Social Security and I-70 park & ride and dipping underground to meet the existing metro downtown, seperating the grade and saving money.
I take either I70 or I83 almost daily. Tearing them down would be disasterous. Have you ever tried to get into Baltimore from the western suburbs without using one of these roads? It would be madness! Every day I meander home on that unnamed freeway you speak of, and I dream of the 'red line' connecting catonsville to canton. oh what a dream, but to waste all that money on making JFX or I70 prettier would be a crime. I am crossing my fingers for an east-west light rail corridor. then, maybe I could actually get a job downtown.
