The subways have long been occupying the subterranean spaces of cities, and roads have cut through mountains and cliffs in the form of tunnels. Boston's "Big Dig" is an attempt to drop the major arteries of traffic below the city to expose space for beauty and leisure in place of chaotic traffic.
More important, I think, than the technicalities of what the "Big Dig" project is attempting to accomplish, is what this thinking - traffic below, walking up top - could accomplish if implemented in more cities.Take, for instance, what this project is attempting to do to the pace of Boston's movement. The quick traffic hurries below ground, while short-distances are accomplished above ground. Two aspects of a day are separated by place: the fast-paced rush hour and the slow-paced lunch hour, for instance. It could mean the displacement of population based upon the time of day. It could mean that the dark underground is associated with fast movement, long-distances and getting from point A to point B, and the day-lit upper ground becomes the place for errands, working, and leisure.
original illustrationCould it be that from 8-9 every morning and 5-6 every night, the underground is lit with streams of headlights and tail lights, while the upper ground remains a calm, walkable city? For an American city, I believe this could be an accomplishment - to combine the incredible efficiency and speed of the American mentality with the leisurely walkable distances of a European city.
original illustrationWhile this project is being widely criticized for the amount of money and the technical difficulties it has experienced, I believe (especially now that there is no turning back) that the project is a worthwhile experiment and will truly lead to more urban possibilities in the future of city growth all over the country.
sources:
Boston Central Artery/Tunnel History
images courtesy of:
Boston Central Artery/Tunnel History
Boston Photos
1 comment:
my first thought was that the big dig might be big, but it isn't MEGA. quite small, if you compare it to other tunnels, which could perhaps be the subject - looking at the biggest tunnels in the world.
later, you begin something also interesting, that is the notion of pedestrian and automobile culture in a world where the car is interred. what then, does this mean for a city like LA that has an automobile culture. does the notion of 'car' change? what does this mean for a city like venice? does the morphology of the car, or the city transform?
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