Excellent post
Just to underscore that subdevelopment is a mental state, in our culture cars are a symbol of status, to the point that not having a car is consdiered being a social pariah, which you are, as most neighborhoods are isolated US style suburbia islands, no stores, no entertainment, no interaction between neighbors⌠oh and no public transportation. A car is also a sign of manhood, so women driving are subject to harrassment -women shouldnât be allowed to drive because cars are for men.
As suburbia divides people per income/social class, there is no interst in setting public transportation in most areas. Cars are necessary for safety reasons, more than convenience, there is nothing else in most areas.
The Xinsheng N. Rd. overpass is probably a more realistic target for the first overpass to be torn down. Itâs much less important for the overall traffic flow in the city than Civil Boulevard, and possibility of tearing it down has been discussed previously. It would also uncover the canal that runs underneath which could be developed in the same way as the Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul.
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Mr Speaker, this is also a fantastic idea. I hope Taipei will continue to have a mayor who will push for these kinds of improvements.
Guy
I really like this idea, makes a lot of sense.
One additional note: Xinsheng North Road overpass would of course not be the first to be torn down; the Zhongxiao West Road overpass that nearly clipped off the top of Beimen has already been efficiently removed. One down, more to go (I hope)!
Guy
Damn this is an incredibly good idea. The renewal of that stream in Seoul was apparently a huge success, I would like to go see it.
It would look like this.
Actually, tearing down the Xinsheng N. overpass was discussed during Hauâs period in office. Hau said it could be considered when the Songshan MRT line was completed (already years ago). It was discussed quite a bit during the last mayoral election. Sean Lien got mocked for saying that the expressway should be put in a tunnel instead.
Tearing it down has already been shown to be possible since it was closed for reinforcement work for months without causing serious traffic problems. But unfortunately, Ko hasnât taken it up. When he went to Seoul to look at the Cheonggyecheon Stream, he said that Taipei couldnât do anything like that at the moment because they didnât have the money. The real reason is that it would be a sure vote loser in Shilin since the expressway is the quickest way from Shilin into the city.
There have been shorter sections of overpass demolished, including the former Guanghua market overpass and the Beimen overpass (both originally built to take the roads over the railway lines), but the Xinsheng N expressway would be by far the longest section so far. Hopefully, the positive effect of Beimen might encourage people to reconsider whether the Xinsheng overpass and other elevated roads should be removed.
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Making a lot of sense. There are at least four elevated expressways I can think of running through Taipei . We could definitely lose or even two of them without a massive impact.
Civic boulevard is a real eyesore , a lot of dead zones surround that expressway in particular .
Keelung road is a similar situation . The overhead expressway is useful for car commuters but really just overkill. They should rip it out and put a tramline or some shared cycle lanes along it.
I actually drive some of these roads from time to time, they are convenient but not necessary.
Burying some of the roads parallel to the rivers would also be beneficial. Open up the city. You could then use a system of portable walls for flood control. All it takes is imagination and $$$