What happens after a city removes a freeway? 

This trend started by accident. After the 1989 Bay Area earthquake, the Embarcadero highway in San Francisco suffered permanent damage, and the city decided to tear it down instead of rebuilding it. The result was a smashing success, the Embarcadero became a business hotspot, and urban planners took notes.

One thing to remember about waterfront freeways is that, up until container shipping was invented in the 1950s, city waterfronts were purely industrial areas through which all ship passengers and cargo passed. They were not scenic, nor were they attractive places to stroll - they were ugly and congested and dirty. Putting a freeway over them, in most cases, was not taking away valuable or desirable real estate. When container shipping took over entirely, existing urban waterfronts were completely incapable of serving this new method, so new shipyards had to be constructed from scratch in different locations. This left the old docks literally falling apart until new leisure-oriented developments gradually came into being, and waterfronts shifted to being nice parts of cities.

Upstate New York has some of the most viscerally disgusting examples of highways shredding through a downtown. I’m glad we’ve gotten to a point where we’re tearing highways down.

I'll never understand the madness that overtook so many twentieth century engineers and planners to sacrifice so much of our cityscape to highways.

As someone who as born and raised in the Seattle Metro Area who has been to the waterfront numerous times throughout my childhood and early teenage years, I can assure you that even without any of the fancy new city development, the waterfront already looks better without that ugly grey viaduct. I love how open the waterfront is and, even with some less than appealing looking buildings, gives you an amazing view of one of the best skylines in the world.

Mumbai is currently building a really long coastal highway I am waiting for them to remove it in in 30 years

It's always wild to me that there was a highway going through waterfront park here in Portland. It would be such a downgrade to downtown.

The steam plant is one of the last in operation in the USA. It’s actually a beautiful piece of history and should definitely not be removed to satisfy uninformed aesthetic tastes. It’s more attractive than many apartment buildings as is and I always found it one of the more interesting parts of downtown Seattle.

It's always baffling to me, how much opposition there is, whenever there's a traffic-reducing scheme. And the compromise does not really work either. The result is that seen in the video: An underground highway with a big street/road-hybrid on the surface. That's pedestrian unfriendly and doesn't promote anything else than "drive with your car".

The Alaskan Way Tunnel has no exits; it now serves more as a bypass of Seattle, that's why I think they are still maintaining two car traffic lanes on Alaskan Way itself.

I'm so glad that Vancouver never went in this direction when building up the city. The waterfront all over the city is pedestrian walkways (the "seawall"), parks, beaches, and then narrow roads. I don't understand the need to have big roads right against the water.

The only thing more beautiful than a proper city waterfront is being this early to a City Beautiful video.

I grew up with the viaduct. It was just always there. When I took the ferry after they removed it, I literally didn't even notice it missing. The sunset light was beautiful on the buildings, and while I was snapping pics, sans viaduct, it didn't register that it was gone. Just felt pleasant...

You should take a look at what Rio de Janeiro did for the olympics, called Boulevard Olímpico. It is pretty much the same idea of taking down an elevated highway and creating a tunnel, with a boulevard near the water above. Great video btw

This was the case with some European cities too. If you're curious look at Oslo in Norway, and the "Bjørvika" area. This used to have a waterfront highway and an ugly overpass between the city and the Oslofjord waterfront. Now it's a new city district.

3:25 I like how a three lane road is "narrow" in the U.S. 😄

Lake shore drive is 8 lanes--and we never had a problem getting to the water in Chicago! I think the key is having ample green space at the water, which the plan has. Past the ferry terminal, alaskan way already tapers off heavily. The plan seems to create a union of pedestrian space at the union of pike place market, the aquarium, pier 62, and pike street's new carless streets. The ferry terminal needs access; we have the busiest ferry system in the world! So long as alaskan way doesn't grow near pike place (which it should curve away from), there is greenways connecting pedestrians to the water, and I think it will be a resounding success

I was hoping they build a "highline" type of path in Seattle, by the waterfront. I don't miss the viaduct from a transportation perspective, I miss it because the view from the top deck, diving north, was absolutely incredible.

I love the city of Seattle, probably the most beautiful city I have lived and proud to work on Bertha. My biggest regret was leaving. I am a Floridian and sometimes I have to return home, but I hope to return and this time on a more permanent basis.

Got here when this came out 8 seconds ago. Gotta say, if anything, cities do look a lot nicer without highways tho.

You really should check out "Bjørvika" in Oslo, Norway. In 2010 it was a free-way, and now it's an amazing example of modern urban design.

Sydney has a problem with an expressway and an above ground train station running across the most iconic spot in the city. There have been plans to take things underground, but there are difficulties. And I have personal nostalgia for the train station, given the great view you get from stopping at that station. But it would be great to remove it and open up that area.

This is a long shot, but I hope CityBeautiful talks about the reurbanization of industrial harbour front in Toronto. Our downtown used to be separated from the lake by industrial yards and rail lands until merely 30years ago. Our city’s planners and developers have built entire communities in that space and have given a new life to the harbour front.

Seoul removed the freeway over Cheonggyecheon Stream. Or big cities in Japan building elevated freeways over rivers and canals. There's talks about removing and rerouting the freeway built over Nihonbashi River and over the historical Meiji Era bridge in Tokyo to restore the scenery.

I was just wondering about this topic. I've never clicked a video faster.

I was just in Seattle last week, and I was along the waterfront last Friday (6/11/21). If only I had come a week later maybe I could have met you in person (lol). But seriously, one of my favorite things about my trip was walking along Alaskan Way in the sunshine with a cool breeze. I loved seeing all of the beautiful buildings, and I’m so beyond happy that the viaduct was removed and that there’s a plan to make the waterfront even more beautiful!

The city didn't exactly plan to remove the freeway in the Embarcadero, it fell down and they decided not to rebuild it.

Ivar's is amazing. If you're in Seattle, tourist or not, eat there.

Not a highway removal, but Toronto Canada did a waterfront street revitalization on Queens Quay. The bike path is over-capacity nowadays.

Arterial artery. Straight outta the Department of Redundancy Department.

Many historic buildings disappeared in Seattle because of wild speculation, it would be nice if they rebuilt some so that the waterfront had that sophisticated and old touch.

Seattle does look better with out the old viaduct.

Dude this waterfront is still so disappointing.

A couple key pieces are missing from this video. Mainly that the 8 lane roadway will be on the south end to serve the ferry terminal, the highway 99 interchange, and the cargo terminal. As you go north the lanes will get more and more constricted. And there’s a pedestrian overpass already in place to overcome this at the south end into the ferry terminal which is a nice scenic walk among all new construction. At the north end there will be an enormous ease of access as the Pike Place Market expands with a pedestrian highway that goes over Alaskan way and connects the two. All the rickety staircases that used to connect downtown and the waterfront are getting updates, public art and even elevators. The central area that you point to with the storage and steam plant, was an area redeveloped in the early 2000s with the Waterfront Steps project, a gorgeous stepscape that takes you down to Western Ave, at University Street. The biggest obstacle in my opinion to reconnecting the waterfron, is that for locals or the people who don’t have time to saunder, all transit has been removed while the construction is going on. There used to be a network of busses to the Ferry Terminal, and a trolley that connected to Pioneer Square, the International District, and Myrtle Edwards Park. I hope that transit comes back better than ever, but with the way they are merging the once mighty bus system with the light rail, it will probably be wildly ineffective. Lastly, the 4th thing that the Waterfront Project addresses and actually began with was rebuilding the sea wall, so that it is habitable for wildlife and restores some of the ecosystem that was once along the Seattle waterfront. I hope that while you’re here in Seattle you get to also showcase all the great things this city has managed to make happen despite it’s corrupt planning department. The saving of Pike Place market in the 80s, the amazing Central Library, the parks system designed by Olmsted. If you wanna crap on Seattle, the 5 over 1 epidemic is a good place to start. Or anything that Paul Allen touched, Soulth Lake Union Central Park became all the Amazon towers, failed streetcar transit system,

Thank you for doing so much research. Very well made video

I'm a delivery driver in Seattle. It's funny to be sitting on my lunch and have a new video pop up about a place on 2 blocks away from. One comment I have is that they did move the highway underground but it goes to a completely different area of the city to spit you out in downtown

The Last of Us fans know all about that aquarium

Part of the crossing the street problem is solved at the north end and at ferry terminal. There are sky bridges (with elevators) at both. The northern crossing at the aquarium (where that parking garage is) will be a nice grand stair case type design. Should provide nice views and directly funnel people straight into Pike Place Market. Traditionally south of the ferry terminal has always been where the "water front" ended in Seattle, I mean the Port of Seattle literally starts two blocks down. At that point it always made more sense for people to cross the street and go over to 1st and 2nd (street level stores and such can be found there) to get to Pioneer Square in the south.

Thanks for all the Seattle content, love it!!

Super happy that your channel worked out for you

I walk The Embarcadero here in San Francisco almost daily and I can definitely say I wouldn't go near the water as often if that double decker freeway still existed. Whenever you see old videos of it you'll occasionally see an amusing stray comment in the comment section defending the old freeway by claiming it was "functional" and that it's actually those opposed to the freeway who are not forward thinking.

Seattle, San Francisco Boston both have beautiful waterfronts loved Seattle when I visited in may

The Portland waterfront park and the east bank esplanade on the other side of the river are some of my favorite features of the city. It’s such a pleasant thing to ride a bike on them or just take a stroll along the riverside. I wish we could pull out more freeways here.

Thank you for making this video. I’m writing my urban planning masters thesis on riverfront development right now and I will be using this video as a reference for sure

I live in Seattle so really appreciating all the Seattle centric videos coming out :)

I find it fascinating how you call a dividing and inhuman monstrosity a 'free'.

Rio de Janeiro replaced a downtown viaduct with a park in 2016, on the waterfront of Guanabara Bay. Today we have an aquarium, a ferris wheel and museums, in addition to the port. The local government also built a tunnel to maintain the connection to the southern part of the city. It was the best construction work in decades.

Brisbane in Australia has ‘the Riverside Expressway’ which is essentially a bridge sitting over and running parallel to the bank of the Brisbane River past the most built up part of the city. Now they’re building a new development that’s going to try and reclaim the bank a bit by building right up to the expressway and then adding parkland on the far side of it. The opposing bank already has an extensive world class green space and cultural precinct but it’s interesting to see that the current development for the other bank seems committed to keeping the expressway in place

The big issue is politicians and staff with old fashioned ideas. We (Canadian here, but same issue) still don't consider bicycles, walking and buses as real transportation options that could reduce congestion, and therefore reduce the need for car travel lanes, which would further encourage walking, cycling and transit.

Yo, great video again! Thanks for making it, I learnt something new again :)

Good video!! Very informative!👍

Loved hearing about my old city, Rochester! I gotta admit that I used to love driving on the inner loop… because nobody was on it, and I had the road to myself!! Haha glad it is gone 👏👏👏. Thanks for all the hard work you put into these educational videos!

I first visited Seattle about 20 years ago for a convention and I love how clean and beautiful the city was with the hills. coming from Chicago it was amazing. but one thing that I hate it had no waterfront. What was there was dirty and dingy with the highway on the waterfront without beaches and that was really sad

Excellent film! My home town has changed quite a bit!

Just found this channel but found it crazy you didn’t mention Boston and the big dig in this vid!

Third-world countries believe in increasing vehicle traffic and see it as a sure sign of economic growth no matter the cost. Such redevelopment projects mean nothing to our policy makers and politicians see them as a major negative.

hope fully Seattle, Washington rebuilds the waterfront streetcar line

A cab driver told me it'd be done in 5 years in 2011. I laughed at him in my best Big Dig era Boston accent I could muster.

Used to live in Seattle by the waterfront for years. Would love to revisit in the future once this vision is complete

It actually took away the beautiful view you got from that viaduct. That city used to be beautiful. Now it's full of trash, used needles, and tents.

The new waterfront is absolutely disappointing! WAY too many Lanes for cars - this is a new STROAD being constructed in 2021 🤦‍♂️

I love these Seattle videos!!!

We have not had a waterfront in Seattle since about 2012 or 2013. A lot of successful businesses were forced to shut down as foot traffic in most areas and all parking on the waterfront were closed. Having driven down along it a month ago it's clear we will essentially not have a functional waterfront for another 5 or 10 years.

Great video. Cleveland Ohio is working to figure this out as well.

The steam plant is obviously going to stay. I would, however, bet that a large number of the other "freeway" buildings will be redeveloped within a decade. The Public Storage building is a good example. Since it was up against the viaduct, anyone who redeveloped the land would be faced with having much of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors being either useless or being leased at very cheap prices. The developer would also have the joy of coming up with engineering solutions to make certain the Viaduct didn't fall over during construction. A you-store it sort of store was a good use of the land. With the viaduct gone, the uses for the land become varied.

I am heading to Seattle on Sept 5, and spend a couple of days exploring before a cruise to Alaska. The "Waterfront" is one of my interests, and after watching this video, it may prove to be a challenge, but I will make it work. Thanks for the video. Tampa.

The timing is perfect! haha I was in Downtown Seattle on Monday wondering what all was going on. It's full of construction right now but glad they're making an effort to reconnect the city with the waterfront.

They replaced the viaduct, but not the exits that it had going into downtown. The tunnel completely bypasses downtown, so Alaskan way has to take on any traffic that doesn’t want to go all the way to the north/south ends of downtown.

Now that SF removed the freeway along the Embarcadero, there's an added hour's worth of traffic to head north or east out of the city. I'm glad Seattle decided to keep the flow but move it underground.

Nice report. You have touched on some important factors, one of course is building a bypass tunnel to move traffic through the city. This has been a great success. Now the Alaska Way street has so much potential. I wouldn't be too concerned with double crosswalks. They are just a minor irritation. The important thing is bringing the waterfront to downtown, and that is progressing.

Love this video! Thank you for doing the city waterfront justice. My wife and I just made a video in this area but it is more of a vlog

I’ve lived in Rochester my whole life and the attention and acclaim it gets for removing its highway from the heart of the city is totally overblown. The city’s Interloop is a useful thoroughfare for those who use it, but with the city’s continued drain of downtown businesses, it was barely used. It would have been much more transformational if the city removed the whole Interloop instead of the VERY SMALL portion they did. The section they removed was the least used portion to the point you could stand in the middle of the freeway with little risk. The new area that was created in its place is pretty to look at but is simply residential housing. There is still little through traffic on the new street and little to no new commercial business sprung up in this “new space.” I’m all for removing unused freeways but the Times using Rochester as a poster child for the movement is silly.

Let me tell you about another very successful example of reconnecting a city to its waterfront, that you probably have not heard of: Düsseldorf, lies along the River Rhine, a major River in Germany. For a long time, an important north-south road ran along the waterfront. 28 years ago, the road was moved into a double-decker cut-and-cover road tunel ("Rheinufertunnel", which means Rhine River Bank Tunnel) with access to other roads and parking garages via short connection tunnels. On the surface, the waterfront has been completely pedestrianised and is now the most popular spot in the entire city. Many bars and cafe's popped up and recently, a "city beach" with a big area of grass to sit or lay down. The Old Town is also right there and is now car free. The city's most beautiful square the "Burgplatz" (Castle Square) is now the most popular meeting point. It also spurred other developments. Towards the south, a (well-designed) new parliament building for the State Parliament for North-Rhine Westphalia was constructed partly over the road tunnel (and partly on an re-filled, disused dock). There is some empty space underground, which resulted as unused space between different tunnels, where an art gallery has its exhibition space. The Waterfront has become such a popular destination, that for some periods of the Pandemic, there were restrictions for access or staying too long. In 2019, for its 25th anniversary, there was a huge party, where on a sunday the tunnel was closed and you could walk through it on foot. Along the River, there were may attractions and it seemed like half of the city was there that day.

Nice work as usual. You should have a poll to decide on an outro jingle.

Loving all the Seattle content

Knew he was going to talk about the Alaskan way

Hi, Seattle resident here. I’m incredibly glad they removed the viaduct. It was big, ugly, traffic was horrible at nearly all hours of the day, and it was also really loud since all road noise just reverberated off the concrete. The tunnel they replaced it with is great, however it has a big flaw. It’s a toll road, so you need to pay use it, which is a major turn off for a lot of people. I personally avoid using the tunnel for that very reason. And while Alaskan Way has never been perfect, I can already see the traffic on the main road is getting worse. And not just because of the construction. A major concern is the massive uptake in tourist drivers, ie people driving around just to enjoy the sights. All these people tend to gravitate towards the waterfront, pretty much guaranteeing full and backed up streets no matter how many lanes you add. Their solution being to add more lanes, only increases the risk for an accident because of more cars and more distracted drivers. Meaning people walking will have to cross multiple lanes just to get to the waterfront. There’s a sky bridge that connects one of the upper streets, and elevator for the people down on Alaskan Way, but people don’t wanna take multiple elevator rides just to cross the street, and don’t want to risk crossing seven or eight lanes of traffic either. The people in charge thinking that having a big ass stroad right next to the waterfront just goes to show how ingrained car culture is and how much we need to learn. And in my opinion, is a big ball drop

The redesign doesn't have to include tearing down old buildings. Dynamic painting scemes can bring interest, and other interesting solutions.

I really loved this one! Psyched to check out all the linked resources. 👍

i can’t wait to visit Seattle now that i’m seeing these. i want to make it a trip after covid to see Vancouver too, and it’s literally all because of this channel..thanks City Beautiful!

They should've left a small segment with a ramp as an observation area!!

Washington DC wharf/SW Waterfront is also currently being redeveloped in phases. It’ll be cool to check out

Halifax, NS almost built a waterfront highway through its downtown in the late 60s/early 70s but there was a public outcry that put a stop to the project. Now the city has a very nice waterfront that is packed with people from May to October.

I doubt Toronto will ever tear down the Gardiner Expressway and reconnect to the lake. It's too late, anyway, as they've given over nearly the whole lakeshore to developers who have built a wall of condos that cuts off the city from the lake even worse.

You had me at arterial artery.

Well, that's funny timing. I was just in Seattle visiting relatives and they were talking about that when we were at the waterfront.

Heh, I currently live in Rochester NY and am moving to Seattle, nice to hear about both cities projects in one video!

As a Louisvillian, I'm sure we could use some freeway removal!

The $3 billion used to construct the tunnel and serve cars could have been used for so much more…

I'd love for you to do a video on Boston's Greenway. I think they came up with a great use for the area-- creating a multi-faceted public space for all to enjoy, rather than simply developing expensive apartments or putting in more space for cars.

Rio de Janeiro is going through the exact same thing. They already removed the freeway and placed the tunnel, but are still revitalizing the neighborhood. It might make a great story as well, I'd love to see a video about it.

Huge problem since I work at one of the piers. This plan eliminated all of the parking which provides access to the waterfront and will provide more space for homeless encampments. Plus busses don't run on alaskan way

Driving the Alaskan Way Viaduct was such an amazing experience, particuarly driving northbound which gave the driver incredible views of the skyline and Puget Sound. However, the waterfront will be a fantastic place to hang out along when the final projects are completed...I drove the new tunnel late in 2019 and WSDOT did a very nice job.

Manhattan's west side below 55th street is another good example of a waterfront promenade that works well despite many lanes of traffic. West side highway is 3-4 lanes of traffic in each direction plus turning lanes, but there's also a heavily used bike lane the whole way with some great parks scattered across the waterfront

My fiance and I are spending part of our Honeymoon in Seattle..never been to the area so we are looking forward to seeing downtown and the progress on this waterfront construction!

Freeways through the city is insane to me as a european. EDIT: 5:30 Like LOOK AT THAT, its massive and it goes through the city center wtf.

What do you think of Boston’s big dig?

Chattanooga has also done a great highway transformation of Riverfront pkwy and created an amazing park along the waterfront. A two lane road was an adequate replacement. Hope Seattle's works out!

the facts that i was looking this up today and here you are 👍

Great video! Hopefully more and more cities will bury their freeways so that cities in America can have more beautiful cores without the awkward and depressing choke points with standard freeway design through cities.