Shot in the Dark

Priorities

Our schools are failing, and every snowfall turns our streets into Bolivian goat paths.

But they’re talking about putting a “cap” on 35W from Washington down to 5th Street.

It’s a noise-abatement thing:

Across the country, cities are covering loud highway trenches with lids, or caps, that block out noise, restore old neighborhood connections and yield development opportunities.

In Minneapolis, planners have their eye on covering a portion of Interstate 35W that separates Downtown East and Cedar-Riverside neighborhoods, running from Washington Avenue S. to about 5th Street.

A lid over that gap would create 17 acres of green space above the highway and the chance to put up new buildings on both sides.

Still in the early concept stages, the project team has yet to nail down a cost estimate or get a funding proposal in place, but they say the payout will be greater than the risk.

They always do, don’t they? 

At least they’re not talking about making it a retractable roof.

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Mitch Berg

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7 responses to “Priorities”

  1. nate Avatar
    nate

    Most cities put trains under ground and cars on top. Always gotta be different.

  2. Powhatan Mingo Avatar
    Powhatan Mingo

    “the project team has yet to nail down a cost estimate or get a funding proposal in place, but they say the payout will be greater than the risk.”
    Uh-huh. Conclusion determined before terms are defined. That’s some bad reporting, right there.

  3. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    Gotta love just how healthy it would be to be stuck in a traffic jam in an enclosed highway. But putting Columbus in the list of “lidded” freeways is funny since that whole “lid” is barely an acre — it’s essentially just making the bridge connecting two hipster neighborhoods wide enough to put the usual hipster stores on it.

    And I absolutely trust planners (who are not engineers) who say payout is greater than risk before even a preliminary analysis has been done. …NOT!…

  4. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    More suburban and outstate LGA to protect the sensibilities of the delicate urban center. Kind of like sending tribute to the Capitol to pay for our past sins, I guess.

  5. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    What others say about knowing the costs outweigh the benefits before estimating the costs….plus the issue of fumes, the vulnerability to the whole city to the need for mechanical ventilation, the possibility of crash/attacks in the tunnel…..it’s like there’s a reason that subways running under the streets are electric, and access is controlled, or something like that.

    And the cost/benefit ratio? Well, I’d have to guess that building the tunnel is going to be a touch more expensive than building the road, so we’re effectively arguing that in a day when you can buy an acre of land with buildings in large portions of the city for less than a million bucks, it will somehow more effective to build an acre of land for a mere two to three times that. OK…..does “city planner” translate to “Failed Math in 3rd grade” or something?

  6. Powhatan Mingo Avatar
    Powhatan Mingo

    “the project team has yet to nail down a cost estimate or get a funding proposal in place, but they say the payout will be greater than the risk.”
    This actually means that the planners know that they have the tools to game the numbers.
    “Include on the plus side sales tax revenue for ten years from the high-end shops that open on the lid. If that’s not enough, make it twenty years. And for God’s sake don’t assume that the revenue from the new shops will reduce revenue at any existing shop.”

  7. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Will the high-end shops sell pull-tabs?

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