Imagine taking in the expansive view of the Puget Sound from the Alaskan Way Viaduct—when you aren't behind the wheel of your car. Sound crazy? Maybe. But the idea of transforming the busy vehicle corridor into an elevated park offering views of the water has already gained some followers. Congress for the New Urbanism has even placed Seattle at the top of its list detailing the top 10 expressways that would provide the best opportunities for such a transformation. Although this idea may initially seem far-fetched, one only has to look eastward at the recent rehabilitation of old railway tracks for inspiration.
Transforming old railways—and vehicle corridors—into public green spaces isn’t a new occurrence, but more and more cities are converting urban structures located in the downtown core. Numerous concerns make the rehabilitation a lengthy and complex process; engineering, infrastructure improvements, construction, architecture and landscaping concerns must all be addressed, as well as the assignment of safety and upkeep costs and party liabilities. Because the concept of repurposing abandoned or blighted urban structures into multi-use greenways is still experimental, it often requires the forging of new partnerships between community groups and local governments. But with revamped structures in cities such as New York and Paris—and others to come in cities such as St. Louis and Rotterdam—should Seattle follow suit?
New York's High Line, Paris's Promenade Plantée, Rotterdam's Hofplein Viaduct, and Toronto's Gardiner Expressway
The High Line—a green corridor in New York City—is the first elevated park in the country. But the oldest and most famous example of this urban re-visioning is Paris’s Promenade Plantée. The Promendate Plantée—also lovingly known as the Coulée Vert (the Green Flow)—provides Parisians with more than 2.5 miles of elevated green space in the 12th Arrondissement. Discontinued in 1969, the then-90-year-old railroad track was transformed in the 1990s as part of President Mitterrand’s effort to revitalize the working-class neighborhood. The green space features a mixture of park elements including narrow ponds, bike lanes, intricately landscaped paths that provide a walkway over a freight-train-station-turned-park, and art exhibition and workshop space located beneath the viaduct. Since its rehabilitation, more than 1,000 residences and 275,000 square feet of commercial and office space have been constructed in the area. The success of the Plantée proved invaluable in the Friends of the High Line’s quest to redevelop New York’s abandoned High Line railway. And while New York is enjoying the spotlight on its unprecedented park, its newest green addition is serving as inspiration for other cities.
At least one European city hopes to join New York and Paris by transforming a national monument into an urban parkland: Rotterdam’s one-mile-long Hofplein viaduct, which opens the first electric railway line in the Netherlands, is set to become a different sort of monument. The railway line will be transformed into a public area and used to attract private businesses in the former train station and underlying structures. Purchased in 2006 by several housing corporations, construction of the first phase of the Hofplein line route is set to begin sometime this year after the line is discontinued.
In Canada, Toronto architect Les Klein has proposed rehabilitating Toronto’s much-debated 4.3 mile Gardiner Expressway into an elevated park in a $500 million transformation effort. While the city already has plans for the $300 million demolition of a second section of the expressway, estimates for demolishing the entire structure have rocketed up to $1.5 billion. Klein’s proposal features a "green ribbon" complete with solar panels and wind turbines that would light the underlying boulevard and provide a cooling effect on Toronto. Whether Klein’s proposal will inspire strong long-term community support for the transformation is yet to be seen. Perhaps the progress of rehabilitation projects in Chicago and St. Louis can spur other cities to take a second look at blighted industrial structures.
Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail
Adopted by the city and backed by strong mayoral support, Chicago’s Bloomingdale Trail is a key “Green Legacy” project highlighted in the city’s Burnham Plan Centennial celebration. Constructed in 1873, the Bloomingdale Line runs through four neighborhoods before culminating at the Chicago River. Similarly to the High Line’s own humble beginning, the goal of converting the Bloomingdale Trail into a greenway was first originally undertaken by a local community group.
Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail formed in 2003 to convince Chicago to transform the 2.7 mile stretch of an abandoned elevated railroad into a multi-use greenway. While the city first surveyed the site for a bicycle facilities plan in 1997, it didn’t officially endorse the transformation until 2004. Chicago has recently selected an architectural firm and allocated $3 million in federal and local funding for preliminary design and engineering work on the site. Estimates on the project include a price tag upwards of $50 million and a 7-year timeframe.
To finance the park, Chicago has sought federal funding through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program and is seeking currently private funding for the park’s construction. In the meanwhile, the city has partnered with the Trust for Public Land, Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail and other entities to identify and acquire numerous parcels of vacant lots and land owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. One local developer has even donated a parcel of land to the city in support of the trail.
Support for the project remains high as the greenway is likely to provide safe recreational space for pedestrians and bicyclists, especially for children in neighborhoods that have historically lacked open space and report high childhood obesity rates. One portion of the park is expected to serve more than 4,200 neighborhood children who live within one half-mile of the Bloomingdale Trail.
St. Louis’s River Ring
The city of St. Louis is also looking to transform a railway structure into a multi-use route. St. Louis’s Great Rivers Greenway District is working to increase local access to new parkland on its historically industrial waterfront. The steel trestle route would link northern neighborhoods to two other major trails—one of which, a 1.25 mile paved pathway, opened in June 2008. The trails will ultimately connect to St. Louis’s portion of the regional River Ring, an expanding multi-state system of 1,216 square miles of greenways and parks along the Mississippi River.
Unlike the projects in New York City and Chicago, St. Louis’s reconstruction is not spearheaded by a particular community group but by a governmental entity; the St. Louis Great Rivers Greenway District was created in 2000 to manage funds resulting from the passage of a citizen-initiated sales tax intended to finance a massive system of greenways, parks and trails surrounding the city. In 2005 the Trust for Public Land (TPL) acquired a two-mile abandoned rail corridor from Ironhorse Resources Inc. which it conveyed to the district for $1.5 million. The trestle is an integral part in the city’s efforts to rehab its riverfront and while the city is in the midst of developing engineering plans for the tracks, it has no clear deadline for the park’s completion.
Philadelphia Viaduct Still Searching for City Support
While projects in Chicago and St. Louis have received strong support from local government, no firm plans exist to rehab Philadelphia’s Reading Viaduct. Proponents of the park point to a 2003 study commissioned by the City of Philadelphia that concluded that transforming the one-mile long, 4.7 acre area into an elevated park would be 10 times cheaper than demolishing the structure. But after nearly a decade of growing community and political support, the $5.1 million cost of refurbishing the viaduct, concerns over PCB cleanup and divided community support—should it stay or should it go?—have, at least temporarily, stalled the project. As the Reading Viaduct Project continues to seek government and private partnerships, perhaps more timely and successful transformations nearby will spur Philadelphia into action.
And Seattle?
The familiar concept of opening up green space within a city has fallen into the spotlight thanks to New York’s newest elevated park. In light of Seattle’s own Alaskan Way Viaduct debate, could it be time to reshape Seattle’s waterfront by re-visioning all of its possibilities?
