From Architizer Blog — What Happens When You Demolish A Highway?

San Francisco, it seems, can’t take down its interstates fast enough. The city began dismantling its elevated highways out of necessity, when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Central and Embarcadero freeways beyond repair. Instead of rebuilding them, city planners and local architects transformed the plots into tree-lined surface boulevards that stitched divided neighborhoods back together and beckoned pedestrians and cyclists alike. Without that urbanist about-face, we wouldn’t have the Embarcadero’s palm-tree-studded waterfront promenade, the Ferry Building would never have been redeveloped, and Pier 1 would still be a parking lot. Read more: Architizer Blog » What Happens When You Demolish A Highway?