Скачать или смотреть Los Angeles's Complex Freeway System from the Air

The LA Freeway system began humbly enough with the completion of the Arroyo Seco Parkway in 1940. Transportation engineers saw freeways as a wonder, a near magical invention which would eliminate much of LA's growing traffic problem. Over the years, the Los Angeles area freeway master plan was updated several times, as engineers modified their assumptions as to what portions of LA needed to be given freeways. Many of these roads were simply pipe dreams, but this grandiose plan became the basis for the part monstrosity, part work of art called the LA freeway system.

Throughout the forties and fifties, public sentiment was with the freeway designers. People saw freeways as a liberating alternative to the mismanaged trolley system, and were willing to pay for the construction in the form of higher taxes and bonds. As time went on, however, people became more and more frustrated with the fact that freeways weren't providing the benefits the engineers said they were going to provide. Lawsuits started to be filed, and freeway construction ground to a halt. As it currently stands, there is to be little to no new freeway construction in the LA area for the forseeable future. The only construction projects are the extension of Interstate 210 to the San Bernardino area, and a proposed extension of the Marina Freeway. It could be said that the LA freeway system failed to meet its goals, but it certainly is a wonderful failure.

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