Freeways

I recently came upon the under-demolishment part of the Gardiner.

It makes me a bit sad.

I know that elevated highways is now the headache of every metropolitan downtown in the world¹, but I kind of like them. I think they've got historical character, the products of early 1900s futurism.

Clearly we shouldn't be building any more of these; it's an archaic technology and, in hindsight, a poorly thought out design. But I think parts of it ought to be conserved. Perhaps a High Line approach is for the best.

1. Except maybe Shanghai, where the central government is constructing them at a furious pace. Decades behind the rest of the world², naturally.

2. Except the New York elevated rail network was getting torn down for being ugly and distracting at the same time they were proposing the elevated freeway system. Well played.