In Virginia, Imagining a Less Disruptive Alternative to a Highway

[M II A II R II K]

In Virginia, Imagining a Less Disruptive Alternative to a Highway


July 13, 2012

By Angie Schmitt

Read More: http://streetsblog.net/2012/07/13/in...-to-a-highway/

On the north side of Charlottesville, Virginia, Route 29 is congested. So of course county officials immediately zeroed in on the most expensive, most disruptive course of action: building a $245 million bypass.

- While local authorities seem to be bent on building the bypass, proposing an alternative — and proposing it in video — is a smart and increasingly common strategy. Charleston environmental group the Coastal Conservation League was able to help successfully halt the 8-mile Mark Clark Expressway using a well-designed and accessible alternative plan. In Portland, Spencer Boomhower’s animated condemnation of the Columbia River Crossing highway project has been viewed more than 2,000 times. He even followed up with a “common sense alternative.”

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The Southern Environmental Law Center says the problem could be solved for a lot less than $40 million a mile — with just a few key interventions.


• Video Link

[Swede]

I like it! Both the presentation itself and the plan they're proposing. Adding more lanes is not something I like, but getting the overpasses in there (built right, so they don't hinder urbanity from being created) and especially the opening up of parallel alternate roads are great ideas. Parallel streets also makes the place less vulnerable to huge delays after e.g. accidents.