Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
Too bad a portion of the sunken freeway couldn't have been just capped and used for public transit of some sort instead of just being filled in. Seems like kind of a waste of some very expensive subterranean infrastructure.
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Removing a freeway is almost a power of ten cheaper than building a cap, especially when the freeway being considered is oversized or underused, as is/was the case with Rochester's Inner Loop. It's a lot more difficult and expensive to develop the land over top of existing freeway lanes. Removal allows that land to be redeveloped much more easily/cheaply and at a much more ambitious scale because it allows for deeper foundations built on top of fill. Caps are essentially massive land bridges that have to be maintained long term, whereas filling in a freeway is a one time expense. Buses can get people where they need to go at a fraction of the cost of a light rail or subway.