Quote:
Originally Posted by wburg
Not sure if you have walked outdoors in Sacramento during the summer, but it gets kind of hot here. Trees make the walk a lot more pleasant, and many people think they're pretty.
Trying to turn the biggest river in California, 700 feet wide where it crosses under the Tower Bridge, into some kind of tame creek like the San Antonio river walk (which is more like 50 feet wide) is a foolish idea--it's just plain never going to happen. And that view of a Portland river walk isn't just a couple feet above the water--note that the big boat a ways downstream in the view you linked barely sticks up above the level of the walking path! You can tell how high that view is if you take another look from the Hawthorne bridge:
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.5136...YFRKUIxXHQ!2e0
Although note that what made that park possible was the removal of the highway that previously blocked downtown Portland from its river--just as Interstate 5 does today!
https://www.cnu.org/highways/portland
So instead of a "bypass" for the Sacramento River, why not a "bypass" to route non-local Interstate 5 traffic around the western end of West Sacramento? That's the real obstacle to Sacramento's waterfront development--an archaic holdout from the era when everyone was supposed to live in the suburbs and drive downtown to work and shop on uncrowded, speedy highways.
Unfortunately, a lot of Sacramento suburban developers still believe very much in that Happy Motoring world. The other thing that drove a lot of downtown Portland's urban development (including its waterfront) was their regional growth boundary that turned development energy inward instead of outward. 30 years ago, Sacramento and Portland didn't look that different when it came to sprawl and an ailing downtown--but they decided they weren't going to grow outward anymore. Today, Sacramento is on the national cusp of a new era of downtown living--but we're missing out on it, because there are about 600,000 units of suburban housing in the planning stages throughout the Sacramento MSA. Although, according to SACOG, the projected need for new housing through 2025 is only 300,000 units! |
I do agree mostly of what you said. I-5 needs to go or get covered up. That would encourage development at the waterfront.
Also here is an example of what West Sac has planned. There will be some areas you can get close to the water. This is what I am referring to.
And creamcityleo79, I'm all for trees and I know how hot it gets. I am not for overgrown and trees/bushes that do not provide shade and look awful. And I hate cottonwoods, so they can be cut down. They just give me horrible allergies. Also large branches that are hanging out of the water need to go.. they are dangerous and unsightly. I'm just calling for some dollars to be spent to have someone maintain it, at the very least.