What happens after a city removes a freeway?

This trend started by accident. After the 1989 Bay Area earthquake, the Embarcadero highway in San Francisco suffered permanent damage, and the city decided to tear it down instead of rebuilding it. The result was a smashing success, the Embarcadero became a business hotspot, and urban planners took notes.

One thing to remember about waterfront freeways is that, up until container shipping was invented in the 1950s, city waterfronts were purely industrial areas through which all ship passengers and cargo passed. They were not scenic, nor were they attractive places to stroll - they were ugly and congested and dirty. Putting a freeway over them, in most cases, was not taking away valuable or desirable real estate. When container shipping took over entirely, existing urban waterfronts were completely incapable of serving this new method, so new shipyards had to be constructed from scratch in different locations. This left the old docks literally falling apart until new leisure-oriented developments gradually came into being, and waterfronts shifted to being nice parts of cities.

Upstate New York has some of the most viscerally disgusting examples of highways shredding through a downtown. I’m glad we’ve gotten to a point where we’re tearing highways down.

As someone who as born and raised in the Seattle Metro Area who has been to the waterfront numerous times throughout my childhood and early teenage years, I can assure you that even without any of the fancy new city development, the waterfront already looks better without that ugly grey viaduct. I love how open the waterfront is and, even with some less than appealing looking buildings, gives you an amazing view of one of the best skylines in the world.

It's always wild to me that there was a highway going through waterfront park here in Portland. It would be such a downgrade to downtown.

I'll never understand the madness that overtook so many twentieth century engineers and planners to sacrifice so much of our cityscape to highways.

Mumbai is currently building a really long coastal highway I am waiting for them to remove it in in 30 years

The steam plant is one of the last in operation in the USA. It’s actually a beautiful piece of history and should definitely not be removed to satisfy uninformed aesthetic tastes. It’s more attractive than many apartment buildings as is and I always found it one of the more interesting parts of downtown Seattle.

It's always baffling to me, how much opposition there is, whenever there's a traffic-reducing scheme. And the compromise does not really work either. The result is that seen in the video: An underground highway with a big street/road-hybrid on the surface. That's pedestrian unfriendly and doesn't promote anything else than "drive with your car".

The Alaskan Way Tunnel has no exits; it now serves more as a bypass of Seattle, that's why I think they are still maintaining two car traffic lanes on Alaskan Way itself.

I'm so glad that Vancouver never went in this direction when building up the city. The waterfront all over the city is pedestrian walkways (the "seawall"), parks, beaches, and then narrow roads. I don't understand the need to have big roads right against the water.

The only thing more beautiful than a proper city waterfront is being this early to a City Beautiful video.

I grew up with the viaduct. It was just always there. When I took the ferry after they removed it, I literally didn't even notice it missing. The sunset light was beautiful on the buildings, and while I was snapping pics, sans viaduct, it didn't register that it was gone. Just felt pleasant...

3:25 I like how a three lane road is "narrow" in the U.S. 😄

This was the case with some European cities too. If you're curious look at Oslo in Norway, and the "Bjørvika" area. This used to have a waterfront highway and an ugly overpass between the city and the Oslofjord waterfront. Now it's a new city district.

You should take a look at what Rio de Janeiro did for the olympics, called Boulevard Olímpico. It is pretty much the same idea of taking down an elevated highway and creating a tunnel, with a boulevard near the water above. Great video btw

I was hoping they build a "highline" type of path in Seattle, by the waterfront. I don't miss the viaduct from a transportation perspective, I miss it because the view from the top deck, diving north, was absolutely incredible.

I love the city of Seattle, probably the most beautiful city I have lived and proud to work on Bertha. My biggest regret was leaving. I am a Floridian and sometimes I have to return home, but I hope to return and this time on a more permanent basis.

The city didn't exactly plan to remove the freeway in the Embarcadero, it fell down and they decided not to rebuild it.

Lake shore drive is 8 lanes--and we never had a problem getting to the water in Chicago! I think the key is having ample green space at the water, which the plan has. Past the ferry terminal, alaskan way already tapers off heavily. The plan seems to create a union of pedestrian space at the union of pike place market, the aquarium, pier 62, and pike street's new carless streets. The ferry terminal needs access; we have the busiest ferry system in the world! So long as alaskan way doesn't grow near pike place (which it should curve away from), there is greenways connecting pedestrians to the water, and I think it will be a resounding success