Reimagine with us…

This is a once-in-a-generation chance. We have a moral obligation to do the right thing. Restoration is the key component of this project. Restorative justice is at the center, allowing for a neighborhood to be reconnected and new housing to be built where a neighborhood can once again thrive. Environmental justice will be served with the restoration of booker creek and the replacement of our tree canopy, providing future generations with clean and cool air. Countless lives will be saved as we replace deadly roads with safe streets.

Streets were never intended to only be for cars. 25% of southside residents and downtown residents don’t use a car for most trips. Trips within downtown are mostly pedestrian and bicycle. Removing 175 and replacing it with a street grade boulevard with the original street grid being reconnected will provide folks with more options to get around. Streets like 12th, 11th and 10th street could be reconnected at street grade where no connection currently exists. MLK, 8th, 6th st would no longer be overpasses or underpasses but rather normal intersections. The boulevard will have dedicated space for pedestrians and bicyclists, perhaps on the wide tree lined median that could be built down the center. A dedicated bus and emergency vehicle lane would give space for rapid transit and emergency access. The boulevard would occupy less space than the highway, which would free up land which would be given back to the public. We imagine a community land trust could be established to decide what happens on that land. Land that was once a part of the neighborhoods of Campbell Park and Sugar HIll could be returned back to residential use. Businesses could thrive along the future boulevard, which would be adjacent to the innovation district and the future Gas Plant. Booker Creek, which flows under the roadway, would be restored and naturalized to improve the water quality and natural habitat that was once there. Flooding risk would be reduced. 

We can reimagine the details together. What is certain is we need a road that benefits everyone.