Where a major highway once crossed a river in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, there’s now a pedestrian bridge that doubles as park space. The project reuses old infrastructure: When the city learned that it would cost millions to remove the massive piers that supported the highway in the water, it decided to leave them in place and build the pedestrian bridge instead…

It’s one example of a growing number of ways that cities are replacing urban highways, which were built in the middle of the 20th century to try to improve transportation, but ended up cutting off neighborhoods, increasing noise and pollution, and lowering property values.
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