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MarketScale AEC 12/20/18: Removing Highways and Preserving Indian Architecture
A busy thoroughfare in Dallas is at the center of a bold proposal: to tear down the highway completely and make room for homes, businesses, and public transportation. MarketScale Host Scott Sidway spoke with Patrick Kennedy, a board of directors member for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) about his wish to tear down Highway 345, and why taking away a major link between downtown Dallas freeways could actually improve traffic rather than congest it more. "That's how you address the issue of congestion: not just trying to build your way out of it," Kennedy said. "One, we have to shorten trip lengths, and two, we've got to get people out of cars. If 95 percent of trips are by car, we're going to have congestion." The removal of this highway might even help Dallas thrive economically.
Kennedy pointed out that the land under Highway 345 ought to be more valuable than it is, and it’s not very valuable precisely because of its presence. Given the fact that this is "literally downtown Dallas," he thinks it's "ridiculous." On the podcast, Kennedy pointed out that by removing highways from the center of cities, many cities have been renewed and traffic has in fact improved. For Kennedy, it's pretty obvious why: highways were never supposed to go through cities, but were meant to only link them. “A lot of cities are inherently counterintuitive because they are complex systems that behave in unusual ways,” he said.
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By MarketScaleA busy thoroughfare in Dallas is at the center of a bold proposal: to tear down the highway completely and make room for homes, businesses, and public transportation. MarketScale Host Scott Sidway spoke with Patrick Kennedy, a board of directors member for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) about his wish to tear down Highway 345, and why taking away a major link between downtown Dallas freeways could actually improve traffic rather than congest it more. "That's how you address the issue of congestion: not just trying to build your way out of it," Kennedy said. "One, we have to shorten trip lengths, and two, we've got to get people out of cars. If 95 percent of trips are by car, we're going to have congestion." The removal of this highway might even help Dallas thrive economically.
Kennedy pointed out that the land under Highway 345 ought to be more valuable than it is, and it’s not very valuable precisely because of its presence. Given the fact that this is "literally downtown Dallas," he thinks it's "ridiculous." On the podcast, Kennedy pointed out that by removing highways from the center of cities, many cities have been renewed and traffic has in fact improved. For Kennedy, it's pretty obvious why: highways were never supposed to go through cities, but were meant to only link them. “A lot of cities are inherently counterintuitive because they are complex systems that behave in unusual ways,” he said.