REVITALIZING CITIES

Turning highways into neighborhoods

Bicycle Bridge

Proposed Bicycle Bridge across Hwy 84 - Portland, Oregon

The following slideshow summarizes my analysis of a project which would most benefit bicycle users within the city of Portland.  After looking at several route issues, I found that there is a great deal of traffic between northeast and southeast Portland, however there are few safe throughways across the major highway.

Bicycle Friendly Roadways

A summery of methods used by transportation planners to successfully improve the safety of the non-motoring public.

Proposal to Rebuild the 125th Street Waterfront

"I went back to Ohio, but my city was gone.

There were no train stations, there was no downtown."

What Crissy Heyne was talking about in her song, "Back to Ohio" was the terribly destructive process that has been occurring in American cities since the 1950s.  In order to make automobile travel "safer" engineers design large uninterrupted arterials, believing that if there is nothing to strike, than people will not get hurt while traveling.

The belief in this philosophy has resulted in the destruction of thousands of cities and neighborhoods by 'paving them down the middle.'

In this exercise I have looked at one particular neighborhood, an area historically known as Manhattanville.  This area was once an important shipping port in upper Manhattan because it was the only break in a huge range of cliffs along the west side of the island.  The area changed drastically just after the turn of the century with the addition of a subway line along Broadway.  This brought hundreds of middle class small business owners to the area. Manhattanville grew into a  prosperous commercial center with a strong range of Jewish, Black, Irish ***** residents. 

         The end came in the 1940s when the infamous Robert Moses began constructing highways along the East and West shores of Manhattan Island.  Though the shores had generally been used as shipping centers, the highways sealed the lid on access to the River.  Both the Hudson and the East River became little more than polluted transportation corridors for barges and watercraft.  Since Moses believed in the separation of 'the negro' from the rest of society.  The main arterial connectors for his roadways generally fell on these populations.  This helped to perpetuate the state of decline which spawned Harlem's infamous reputation.

I began by documenting the traffic patterns in and around the access points to the West Side Highway at 125th street.

The areas which were closest to the highway were zoned as either commercial or industrial.  Those business tended to fall into two categories.  Those which catered to automobiles, and those which were extremely low-budget or desperate.  The only exception to this was the Fairway Supermarket which will be instrumental in revitalizing the area.

The roadways and lanes around the highway support very low traffic volume except at 8:00am and 5:30pm.  One road which leads from 138th street to 12th Avenue has virtually no traffic at all.  This area, bounded by the topography on one side, and the highway on the other, has become a dead zone where nobody feels comfortable to go.  As you can see from the analysis, the area paved for roadways is quite excessive for an area which receives traffic for only two hours each day. 

Based on traffic observations and documentation of the infrastructure, I designed a two stage urban renovation for the neighborhood which includes a reduction in both the number and width of vehicle lanes (tractor trailers are prohibited on the highway, allowing for a reduction in lane width), a connection for the Hudson Greenway at 132nd street, and a traffic island for the Bx-15 bus route.  

In this scenario, the sidewalks have been widened to facilitate pedestrian movement.  The bike path has been extended to 133rd street where it can connect with a one-lane road leading into Riverbank Park.  The island at the intersection of 125th and Marginal Street has been widened to define the street as a continuous corridor rather than an overly large paved area.  The dark blue areas of the map denote raised crosswalks which define the pedestrian crossings as having priority over traffic movement.

A more extensive revitalization adds amenities to improve the quality of life for West Harlem residents.  These changes include: A bus island at 125th where passengers can safely disembark and wait for the light.  A traffic island on 12th Avenue with a bike land down the middle connecting the north and south portions of the Hudson Greenway.  A closure of St. Clair Place at Riverside Park (patterned in blue) to connect it to 125th.  New piers to facilitate a ferry terminal.  And shops along the waterfront to bring people to the area.

The before and after renderings give you an idea of how these changes would look were they to be incorporated.