Q&A: Creative use of overpass

Paul from Boston writes:

I currently live in Boston. There is an overpass near Kenmore Square that has always bothered me. I think the fact that the city has attempted to pretty it up with better lighting, trees, and benches has made me notice how awful it is even more than if it was just left alone. It got me thinking about how to make good use of the dead space. I have read some articles about parks under overpasses in Seattle and an entire marketplace underneath a defunct viaduct in Paris. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the subject or if you knew of any articles etc. that explore the possibilities.

I lived for about 4 years in Boston, and I think this is the overpass you're talking about (Bowker or Charlesgate Overpass off of Storrow Drive).


Cars only on the overpass!

Regardless, overpasses are becoming a bigger problem as people find that they are impossible to expand when they cut through a city, and that they suck away so much energy from the city by their presence. Here's a little history of this micro-area before the overpass was built.


Seattle's Freeway Park

The places you're talking about in Seattle and Paris may be different types of infrastructure. Project for Public Spaces worked on Freeway Park, which is the landscape architecture designed park under the freeway that cuts through downtown. Here's PPS's description of the park and with recommendations,
the Seattle Parks and Recreation description, and Lawrence Halprin's Cultural Landscape Foundation on Freeway Park, with some critique of PPS's work. Finally, more photos.


Paris's Promenade Plantee, a BTTN personal favorite

The park you refer to in Paris is the Promenade Plantee, a park built on an old viaduct and abandoned railtracks. Here's the PPS description of it, the park's own web site, and the Boston Globe's own comparison between the Promenade Plantee to the park above the Big Dig.