Alaskan Way

Peter: 8th Apr 2005 - 14:04 GMT

heh, i hate those sorts of elevated roadways that are impossible to navigate... but i love that string of orange/yellow/green cabs! such color in a drizly city.

Jamie: 8th Apr 2005 - 16:09 GMT

An old friend of mine used to live in Jacksonville, FL. I remember the way he used to reminisce about his former home. The wonderful climate. The sporadic and violent convenience store robberies. The neighbourhood he strolled innocently into during his introductory weeks where he was stopped by some cops who pulled up beside him and urged him to leave. Most notably though were the near daily fatal pileups on the freeway on his way to work. American freeways sound to me like most dangerous places

Patrick: 9th May 2005 - 19:04 GMT

The Alaskan Way Viaduct has a really bad rep but it's not all that awful: people just drive real fast down it. To be honest, the worst thing about it is that it cuts across the front of the city, separating the body of the city from the waterline and thus cutting off a potentially amazing view. Imagine if they could get rid of it: beautiful. The thing is, with Seattle, there are so many other beautiful places, you kind put up with the odd rough patch here and there.

Patrick@sortroom.net

Peter: 9th May 2005 - 19:09 GMT

that sounds alot like the elevated gowanus parkway in brooklyn... cuts the city away from the waterfront with tons of loud, badly driven traffic, heh.

jeeff: 10th May 2005 - 04:55 GMT

it's called the gardiner expressway in toronto. cutting off the waterfront with an ugly raised expressway must be right out of the 50's/60's urban planning textbook.

fuzzytank: 10th May 2005 - 05:08 GMT

the other interesting thing about where that shot is taken,
the pedestrian bridge squeezes through the concrete structure to get people over to and from downtown. the clear area between footpath and highway above is only 9 or 10 feet. Im pretty sure thats the closest my head has ever been to the wheel of a transfer truck pushin' 60mph

and you can feel them thumpin by

elaine: 10th May 2005 - 07:17 GMT

we've got a road heading east that has flyovers which are so vertiginous they are like roller coasters to drive on, loads of crashes on them. someone told me he knew a bloke lived right by one, and you'd be on the phone to him, and in the middle of a conversation he'd say 'Oops! there goes another one..' cos people accelerate up only to crash into a queue of traffic at the top

joey: 31st Oct 2005 - 04:57 GMT

oakland once had a stacked freeway like this one. it collapsed in the 1989 earthquake. people and cars got pancaked. good advice - keep off.

vz: 31st Oct 2005 - 05:20 GMT

i'm not sure i understand stacked freeways. how do you get from the top to the bottom or vice versa, and are certain exits only available from one level? good thing we don't have one of these in philly, there's already so many rough spots that another one would be almost unbearable.
planners were going insane all over the country, though. show me one city that didn't bulldoze hundreds of houses for some ugly cloverleaf that only benefits people who don't live in the city anymore. pure insanity.