The Great Divide

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Walking home everyday from my work downtown, I can't help but wish that the freeway was, well, banished entirely from this earth. I know, I know, our city would be an even more dysfunctional mess without it but seriously, crossing Pike/Pine from downtown to Capitol hill is just an unenjoyable experience; the mind numbing noise and sickening smell of gasoline. It just ain't fun.

Don't get me wrong, its not all bad. Of course there is the wonderful view on the way down; I love sitting on the benches in the dog park and seeing the top of the space needle popping out between the buildings. In fact, I think were lucky to have such a transition from the skyscrapers and business of downtown to the older, grittier, culture of the Hill. A definitive neighborhood border is something most Seattle neighborhoods often argue over.

But I just feel that they could do a better job with the Pike/Pine bridge connections to make it more enjoyable for us foot goers. So, since I don't want to just be a whiner, I'll dish up my own (admittedly drug-induced) vision for a better Freeway crossing:

Ok, so the theme here would be a creek crossing in a small town. I think it would be really cool because it would be this very village-like ideal but on a grand scale in the middle of a dense urban center. The juxtaposition would be mind blowing.

We start with the bridges. There ugly and stupid. Since I know for structural reasons (and probably financial) we can't just remove them but what if we dress them up. Throw a bunch of wood paneling on them, maybe even add a little artificial arch and some unnecessary but beautiful cross beams and wooden railings. You could even throw in some stone support looking things to give it that really old feel.

Then, between the two bridges there would be some kind of art piece to represent water. Maybe a bunch of hanging blue rod things or some pretty opaque panels. Basically anything that could partially block the view of the freeway below and muffle the sound a bit. The cool part is that the sound that does make it up could almost be like the rushing of the creek below. Yeah...pretty cool.

It would also be important to get some big weeping willows on either side of the bridges, that hang out over the freeway, and perhaps top it off with a little sculpture of a fisherman sitting on the ledge with his fishing pole hanging out over the edge.

Feasible? Maybe not. But I can dream can't I? Anyone else got other ideas for how to make this crossing awesome?