The streams of freeways that now flow across the land were built for transporation purposes, and that's about it. Like so many good ideas, the "parkway" designs of mid-20th Century suburban New York were not widely copied. Put in the concrete, plant a few trees on the sidings and move on; that has been the common modern approach. It may be changing. Public pressure and better education for planners help.

Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center has urged freeway "lids"--green, active spaces atop freeways where the road cuts make them feasible--and especially in dense urban areas where land is expensive. The "Freeway Park" in downtown Seattle is over forty years old, but its design is still advanced. Fountains provide white noise to cover the traffic sounds. Flowers bloom in profusion, thanks to the wisdom of civic planner, Jim Ellis, who realized that a privately raised fund would be needed for such purposes; otherwise, the City Council would vote to remove the flower beds as soon as the City had a financial strain--which cities have just about every year.

Discovery urged freeway lids for all new construction, because that's when funds are most available as "mitigation" expenses. Some five years ago we urged that lids be used landside for the expansion of Route 520 that branches