High Street Cap over I-670 Praised by Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic

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High Street Cap over I-670 Praised by Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic

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Started 7 months ago by johnwirtz
Latest reply from Walker

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lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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christylwilliams said:
While I love the idea of caps to reconnect the East Side with downtown, there is already so much good vacant retail space along key corridors like Main and Long streets that it's hard to make the case for building more. At least from a economic standpoint.

It's a catch 22 really. Without some robust retail development in Near East on Main or Long, there's no financial incentive to build caps (like there was with High St, to connect the Convention Center with Short North). But without the caps, reconnecting the Near East with downtown is that much more difficult (especially with the new high traffic/high speed feeder streets that pedestrians will be expected to cross), hence no robust retail development in Near East.

Another way to look at is the attraction to larger companies. How likely is a Starbucks or Tim's going to land in one of those 50 year old retail spaces vs. a new built to suit on a cap?

Posted 7 months ago #
ZHC
101 East Main Street, Downtown
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Walker said:
True, but I'm not sure if what's proposed is really restitching anything overall. A grass cap on one half of Long Street isn't going to outweigh the addition of two new one-way feeder streets where cars will be zipping off and on the highways during rush hour.

If anything, it sounds like a bigger disconnection.

I think you misunderstand me, or I didn't express myself well enough. I don't think we disagree at all.

I don't think the current plan is good at all at restitching neighborhoods, without actually finishing the caps the current plan is very negative for downtown access for the reasons you state. Like you do I think that while building the infrastructure for future Caps is good, but the plan as is currently being executed with no guarantee to follow through on cap will only serve to sever downtown more from.... well everywhere. I also agree that this is the sort of thing that can't be done halfway like you mentioned with the grass cap. A cap will only serve effectively if it completes the illusion of never leaving a neighborhood. The freeway barrier for pedestrians is largely a psychological one, not a physical one. For a Cap to work it has to address that issue.

I only was intending to state that I don't think the Caps land usage should be constrained to retail only. So the caps shouldn't be conditional on whether there is sufficient retail demand to fill the space. There is nothing to say you couldn't put city civic buildings, residential buildings or any other vertical use that obscures the sight and sound of the freeway on the cap. :)

Posted 7 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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More national praise for The Cap:

How to Bridge Neighborhood Gaps? Turn Overpasses into Main Streets
MARK BOYER
December 9, 2011

The answer to one of today's most difficult urban planning problems may lie in the Middle Ages. In cities and towns across America, freeways cut through communities, creating urban dead zones that sever neighborhoods from each other. To heal that damage, the city of Columbus, Ohio built a type of urbanized bridge that was common in Europe between the 12th and 17th centuries.

READ MORE: http://www.good.is/post/how-to-bridge-neighborhood-gaps-turn-overpasses-into-main-streets/

Posted 5 months ago #
cmhcow
shhh... i am right behind you!
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columbusmike said:
I agree. I'd like to see the entire "Split Fix" become a lid...call it the Big Cap (kinda like Boston's Big Dig) and be done with it. The city could reclaim all that space for parkland or development that loops around the city...

This would create a tunnel, which introduces ventilation and other issues. This is why the 670 cap, despite being far more valuable real estate than 71/Long Street (or whatever), has massive gaps. I sat on the design review committee and this is what ODOT told us.

Posted 4 months ago #
Taz Devil

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I heard that the US Gov. will never allow another "cap" after 9/11. At least that is what the original developer for the I-670 Cap told me. We had plans to construct another one but that never came to fruition.

Posted 4 months ago #
columbusmike

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cmhcow said:
This would create a tunnel, which introduces ventilation and other issues. This is why the 670 cap, despite being far more valuable real estate than 71/Long Street (or whatever), has massive gaps. I sat on the design review committee and this is what ODOT told us.

Yes, you need a significant amount of ventilation, but it's not uncommon. There are many tunnels around the country that are longer than the split around downtown. Interesting sculptural pieces that function as ventilation stacks could also be scattered throughout a park on top of the highway.

That's one issue I have with ODOT....they don't see artistic solutions to practical problems. Europe does a much better job at incorporating aesthetics with their transportation system.

Posted 4 months ago #
Pablo
Crestview Addition
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columbusmike said:
Yes, you need a significant amount of ventilation, but it's not uncommon. There are many tunnels around the country that are longer than the split around downtown. Interesting sculptural pieces that function as ventilation stacks could also be scattered throughout a park on top of the highway.

That's one issue I have with ODOT....they don't see artistic solutions to practical problems. Europe does a much better job at incorporating aesthetics with their transportation system.

Generally, aesthetics and ODOT don't go hand in hand. ;-)

I think the cap is called a bridge because when you name something a tunnel, a lot of new items are required in addition to ventilation: warning lights and the ability to shut down the road, water supply for fire protection, escape routes, cameras, etc. By creating the gap between High and Park, ODOT was able to skirt these additional requirements.

If the terrorists prevent us from building more freeway caps, then the terrorists win.

Posted 4 months ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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Pablo said:
If the terrorists prevent us from building more freeway caps, then the terrorists win.

+1

Posted 4 months ago #
dru
IV
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futureman said:
+1

cells in Waziristan can't stop being angry at all those highfalutin capitalists eating their dry aged steaks and rocking sushi.

Posted 4 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Taz Devil said:
I heard that the US Gov. will never allow another "cap" after 9/11.

I believe there was some terrorism concerns addressed with the 670 cap back when it was more of a hotbutton issue, but I've never heard that another cap won't be allowed. That sounds a bit outlandish.

The original article in this thread says that Chicago is considering something similar right now:

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2011/10/ohio-highway-cap-at-forefront-of-urban-design-trend-retail-complex-atop-columbus-expressway-offers-m.html

Posted 4 months ago #