SHODAN LIVES
Notes and links from @colemanm.
Mockup drawings of Robert Moses’ NYC highways in Google Maps.
Moses wanted to build Mid-Manhattan and Lower Manhattan Expressways to connect Long Island with Jersey via Manhattan. The first would’ve connected the Lincoln and Queens-Midtown Tunnels, the second would connect the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges to the Holland Tunnel. Needless to say, NYC would be a completely different place had these projects been pursued.
Stimulus Ideals Conflict on the Texas Prairie »
Developers in Houston want to extend the Grand Parkway through a section of prairie known as Katy Prairie west of Houston.
This 15-lane toll connector from I-10 to US-290 will eventually become part of a third beltway around the Houston metro center. Third. 15 lanes.
The State of Texas wants to spend $181 million of it’s expected stimulus money on something that will promote exactly what the stimulus program is trying to prevent: massive urban sprawl. Activists in the Houston area claim, rightly so, that that money would be better spent improving areas where people already live, rather than opening up a new expanse to new development.
This is one of my primary concerns of the whole “stimulus” idea. How do you tell a region or municipality how to spend their money on a local scale?
The new concrete of St. Anthony Falls Bridge.
“The St. Anthony Falls Bridge used about 50,000 yards of concrete. Hoover Dam used more than three million. And the Three Gorges project in China contains more than a yard for every man, woman and child in Canada, population 33 million.”
33 million yards of concrete is certifiably insane. China’s at it again…
That new I-35W bridge in Minneapolis is beautiful. The contractor has even built sculptures bookending the bridge that can actually sequester airborne carbon dioxide, thanks to a chemical additive that makes the concrete’s footprint “carbon negative.” They also include additives that scrub pollutants from the air, keeping the bridge bright white.
Clash of Subways and Car Culture in Chinese Cities.
“…it cost about $100 million a mile to build a subway line in Guangzhou, including land acquisition costs for ventilation shafts and station entrances.”
“By contrast, New York City officials hope to build 1.7 miles of the long-delayed Second Avenue line in eight years at a cost of $3.9 billion, or $2.4 billion a mile. The city expects to use a single tunneling machine.”
Subway line costs us 24 times as much as China. No wonder they’re racing ahead.
How to Save the Suburbs »
What we’re learning about the DC area is that there are 30 of these walkable communities here. I’m only talking about regionally significant places, not individual neighborhoods. So, for instance, downtown DC, Reston, Bethesda and so on. Of these places, 90 percent are on the metro system and most of the rest will be linked into it in the next five years. So that’s a pretty obvious correlation right there. But most of these walkable places are in the suburbs.
The local government here in the Tampa Bay area has been trying to put together grand strategic plans for infrastructure for the last decade. Plans include light-rail transit and incentive programs to attract people back to local city centers. St. Pete (where I live) has done a pretty good job restoring the downtown area and drawing young people back to high rise condos and smaller townhouses. Walking is now the primary means of transport down there (once you get close).
A 1939 Nuclear Power Plant.
