Downtown Freeway System

Vrrrm. Vrrrm. We’re going Downtown.
I believe I have what could be the best plan for a direct link from the interstate to downtown. As I thought about the problem, I always wondered what would be the best approach to take. I was trying to look for an approach that would be minimal on the destruction of residential areas, especially of historical value. Just that one criteria alone was enough to drive me mad as I tried to identify a North-South passage from I-94 to downtown. Unfortunately folks, it’s not going to happen in my life time. As one user said on the SSP forums, it would be tide up in court for years with never ending NIMBYism. So, I looked to another route. I believe I’ve identified a possible East-West approach. I looked at the residential and commercial unit which would have to be demolished and this appears to minimize that.

The Clearing
I believe that eventually, due to it’s growth and prosperity, NDSU will become so large it will need to obtain all land south of the University which is north of 7^th Ave, west of University, and east of the northern railroad yard. A strip of land included in that is the “Apartment Row” along Dakota Drive (or 8^th Ave as some call it). When you look at this section of town, it’s the most run-down and desolate excuse of residences. There are 3 brand new apartment buildings, but I’m willing to let go of them for this to work. If you use that strip of land, you can place an 8 lane interstate system in that spot and have a convenient link to the western half of downtown. If you were to build it here, you would also be able to have a direct link to the freeway from NDSU. Talk about convenience. Build a gigantic, but nice looking, parking garage and parking problems are solved for that park of the city.

The Western Trail
The interstate freeway would loop around the open area where the flood ditches are. There’s only a concrete silo and a few warehouse/industrial type businesses in the way. I’m sure if the offer was decent enough, none of them would object to having a nice plot in the Fargo Industrial Park. From this area you can access the downtown area through the 4 possible one way streets. I’ve marked them on the diagram below. Keep in mind, where I have drawn the orange road, that road doesn’t exist. It needs to be built. The other two streets I’ve marked as one ways further north can easily be turned into one ways that would go to the riverfront with the demolishing of two buildings and some street work. Not a hefty price at all for better access downtown.

Economic Boom
With direct freeway access downtown, I believe larger businesses will want to move downtown and possibly move into or construct their own highrises. With more and more businesses moving in, people will surely follow, as well as retail and other entertainment establishments. The possibilities are endless and current land owners next to the proposed freeway system of mine would be in line to make quite a killing financially.

I’ll continue on this next time, adding to the plan a possible Dinkytown like area and future NDSU.

(Click Image for Larger Version)


p.s. Keep in mind, I realize that some roads are now deadends and some other new issues may need to be addressed. But hey, I do what I can. Photoshop is my tool, not AutoCAD.