"I started working on this personally when I was at my previous firm. This would've been in early 2016, when I was first involved and we wrapped up our work. We're not currently working on City Walk Birmingham. Our last work for them finished, I believe about two years ago, but I was involved, you know, off and on for about seven and a half years from the initial conception and planning of the project all the way through its operation."
"This highway when it was originally built in Birmingham. This is highway Interstate [65] and Interstate 20, they come together. If you look at an aerial photo of where this highway goes, you will notice a curious bend right at the location of City Walk. That bend in the highway route is a result of highway planners when this was originally built, intentionally destroying the neighborhood where all of the civil rights leaders in Birmingham were living."
City Walk Birmingham repurposed the space beneath a major interstate interchange to reconnect neighborhoods separated by Interstate 65 and Interstate 20. The design emerged as a compromise between the Alabama Department of Transportation and community members, including a nonprofit formed to oppose a highway reconstruction. The highway alignment contains a conspicuous bend created when planners intentionally demolished a neighborhood that housed civil rights leaders. The initiative spanned years of planning and operation, involving multiple stakeholders and careful negotiation. The resulting public space seeks to heal historical disruptions, create positive amenities under the highway, and facilitate pedestrian connections across the divided urban fabric.
Read at Streetsblog
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