‘park 101′ vision downtown’s next big thing
A grand proposal to cap Downtown’s half-mile stretch of the 101 Freeway was publicly presented at the Caltrans Headquarters on Friday to a large audience of government officials, area stakeholders and curious residents.
Dubbed simply ‘Park 101’, the vision was formulated by 24 summer interns of EDAW, one of the world’s leading design firms. The company’s highly-acclaimed intern program, in its twenty-eighth year, brings together students from all over the world to address issues of regional or international significance — in this case, a progressive urban planning concept adapted to the unique needs of inner city Los Angeles.
Through site visits, discussions with state and local officials, EDAW staff and other design professionals participated with the students as a team to explore possible solutions to reconnect two halves of Downtown severed by the construction of the 101 Freeway.
Built in 1950, the eight-lane highway (and its tentacles of on/off ramps) is responsible for fragmenting many original city streets and creating a pedestrian barrier between Downtown’s landmark attractions throughout the historic centers of El Pueblo and Chinatown to the north and the districts of Bunker Hill and Civic Center to the south.
The primary objective of the Park 101 project is to reclaim approximately 100 acres of land from Alameda to Grand (east and west) and Temple to Cesar Chavez (north and south), and relink the community both physically and mentally by shifting the focus away from the automobile.
Not Just a “Cap”
In explaining their design process, each of EDAW interns (some of which have never been to Los Angeles, or the United States) took turns during the presentation to touch on personal inspirations ranging from traditional European models to contemporary American examples such as Chicago’s Millennium Park and Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park.
Connectivity, pedestrian detail, land use optimization, sensitivity to context, and “wow factor” are all cited as driving forces behind the design. The final product is much more than a “cap” or a park - it’s an iconic embodiment of 21st-century Los Angeles; a statement of what this city, famous for its mis-guided affinity with the automobile, can become.
In addition to creating a large amount green space atop the “Big Trench,” the Park 101 scope includes 1.9 million square-foot of mix-use development with 2,000 new residential units, office space, a grocery store and other retail, amphitheater, and a series of “grand gateway structures” anchoring the west end — one which is described as the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast.
Park 101 is also intended to integrate with the LA River Revitalization Project, create a gateway for Chinatown, and supplement Grand Avenue’s “architecture row,” while diversifying land use in an area currently dominated by civic structures.
It’s essentially a magic bullet for everything wrong with this region of Downtown today — another “lump sum fix” becoming increasingly popular in the continued reinvention of Downtown, first seen in the 1950s with the ambitious Bunker Hill redevelopment project.
Making it All Happen
Planners and designers behind Park 101 propose a three-phase implementation, the first of which is estimated to cost approximately $700 million and would include the foundation infrastructure and major park component. All mixed-use buildings and signature towers (appearing white in the photos of the model above) would follow in later phases.
The team of presenters argue that hundreds of millions of dollars produced by increased property values and taxes from the subsequent formation of “new real estate” could offset the costs of construction.
Basically, the project would pay for itself, while generating over 5,000 long-term jobs.
Sound to good to be true? It always is.
Taking what we’ve learned from the Grand Avenue Project fiasco — can it be done within the next 10 years?
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18 comments
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I can’t wait to be stuck inside that tunnel in the summertime, in the heat and smog. I hope they designed for some pretty good air movement, otherwise I can forsee daily car overheatings and asthma attacks inside that hellhole, making traffic worse.
Otherwise it sounds like a great idea - building new land, generating new taxes. SOunds interesting.
Wonderful concept. If they can tie this in with “capping” the 110 at the same time, or as a future phase, this project would stimulate Downtwon in a way that benefits everyone. And your^^^concern is easily solved. Just place massive fans in the tunnels, and have the above-ground vents be hidden by a hill, or public art…All we need is the funding, and no political crap, or people complaining that this will cause more traffic..
^i agree. besides, how many tunnels already exist in the world? a lot! how is this any different from any other tunnel? i don’t hear people freaking out about pollution and asthma attacks (really?!) and car overheatings (um… okay) with the other tunnels. americans . . .
Back in 1950 I’m sure most looked at the freeway carving its way through town as a symbol of progress and growth. (My imagination takes me to the “I Love Lucy” reruns with the Ricardos and Mertzes all motoring into town along the H’wood Freeway in “Hollywood at Last!”
Ah, the innocence of those days.
Now we, and dozens of cities in the country (Boston, New York, San Francisco, etc.) see the error of that era and are working to make some corrections. Kudos!
(Oops…I think that episode was “L.A. at Last”)
Phoenix did this in 1990 with the construction of the 30 acre Hance Park over the 10 freeway.
I disagree this can be built like any other tunnel.
This is a patch of freeway that is perhaps the busiest in the nation. It’s fully anticipatable that traffic will crawl through this tunnel for several hours each day potentially causing trapped exhaust in volumes not addressed in other tunnels. It’s certain that cars will collide, stall and, perhaps, catch fire in this enclosure.
The only comparison locally might be the stretch of road that goes under the south runways at LAX but I think that is much narrower than this part of the 101. I don’t think the longest tunnel on the 110 is as long as this proposed route and it was constructed in a completely different manner for a different purpose.
Additionally, and unlike most tunnel construction, this project will have to be built with minimal disruption to the flow of traffic below because of the aortic nature of this route.
It will be quite nice to see it done but it will take some engineering estimates to get an accurate idea of what the base cost of this project might be.
A similar tunnel, completed in 1990 and functioning well since then is the Papago Freeway Tunnel in downtown Phoenix. It is a half mile long twin tube tunnel through which ten lanes of Interstate 10 travel underneath a large municipal park that was built on the roof that covers the freeway.
Hint to the mayor: The park is named Margaret Taylor Hance Park after the Phoenix mayor that championed the funding and construction of the tunnel. Kinda like that Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX you’ve been walking through so often lately.
The proposed 101 park is nearly twice the length of Hance Park in Phoenix and would create about three times the acreage.
A HUGE undertaking - yes. There are many variables and obstacles to overcome. But If Boston engineers can bury their freeways in the “Big Dig” we can surely cover ours.
Ben: if France and England can build a 30-mile rail tunnel under the English channel, if the Norway can build a 15-mile car tunnel, then L.A. can surely cover a one-mile trench. We’ve had the technology to do this for decades. New York City completed the far more challenging Holland tunnel in 1927!
Both the Holland Tunnel and the Chunnel control the flow of inbound traffic — wanna try that on the 101 near the 4-level? Neither the Holland Tunnel or Chunnel would likely survive an 8.0 — another anticipatable event. Of the two, only the Chunnel was ever designed with counterterrorism issues in mind.
I’m not opposed to the park..I’m actually interested in seeing how it would be engineered — the next step from design to reality. Mine isn’t a perspective of can it be built, but questions about how to actually build it.
im all for it. i just want to know how tall the skyscraper will be. it looks like it will be between the Cathderal and Mark Taper Auditourium. So does that mean the proposed 10 story storage building for the music center is canceled?
Benjamin has some valid points and they need to be included in any discussion of this project. As much as we’d love a park atop the freeway, there are serious issues regarding exhaust, fire safety, lighting, emergency evacuation, and terrorism.
Traffic mitigation measures must be included, as well, because this project is not just about covering a freeway but also about creating a destination (read: more traffic).
I remain in support of the concept but I think its cost and complexity will grow as we begin to tackle the details.
I know that much longer tunnels have been built, but after having lived in NYC and other places, none of them have
the horrendous traffic that L.A. has + the heat+ the air pollution problem.
That’s just for traffic issues - the dang will also have to be engineered for a 8-8.5 earthquake too. This will be $$$$, and in a recession = not going to happen for a long time.
The 101 on that section ALWAYS has a back up, seven days a week.
Anyway - what will happen to the streets that now cross the 101 - how do they fit inthe park, or will they be covered too?
Having said all that, I would certainly like to be ON TOP in the park though - just count me out of traveling thru that “little hell” in the future.
You don’t think that exhaust and ventilation would be thoroughly thought of and designed? Come on people. That is a basic engineering and construction topic that is not even worth discussing. Think of all the tunnels around the world including New York thattravel long distances under the rivers.
I am interested in the proposal of the towers.
Why does their need to be a mixed-use component to this project at all? The private development community has more projects on the books in downtown than there is market demand for already and downtown deperatetly needs open space and a large public gathering place. While the costs of the park can be off-set by selling off development rights, there could be other ways of monitizing the property. The City could tranfer the development rights created by the airspace to other parts of the Downtown, just as was down with the central Library. The City also has millions in Quimby fees collected from Downtown projects looking for a home.
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