Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In
Urban Design

In the Inland Empire, Freeway Overpasses Can Win Urban Planning Awards

1:46 PM PST on November 23, 2015

Such a beautiful site! This freeway interchange pays tribute to the nearby Air Force base. Image: Falcon Engineering Services
This freeway interchange offers eye candy for jet pilots using the nearby March Air Reserve base. Image: Falcon Engineering Services
Such a beautiful site! This freeway interchange pays tribute to the nearby Air Force base. Image: Falcon Engineering Services

The American Planning Association advocates for excellence in planning. But to judge from the awards given by its Inland Empire chapter, sometimes the notion of "excellence" is in the eye of the local beholder. The chapter gave its 2015 Urban Design Award to a sprawling freeway interchange where Van Buren Boulevard crosses over I-215 in Riverside.

As Jason Arango points out on GJEL's blog, there are a lot absurdities about this award:

    1. It’s not urban--the overpass is located in the middle of a field.
    2. It ignores walking and biking. For pedestrians, there is one long 90-foot crosswalk. For bicyclists, there's a bike lane --in only one direction--that requires bike riders to cross two lanes of accelerating freeway onramp traffic.
    3. There is literally nothing special about it, says Arango. “Some airplane designs that are barely visible from the freeway pay tribute to the nearby Air Force base. But that’s it. . .If anything, it embodies and reinforces the status quo.”

Furthermore , writes Arango:

By giving this project a Best Urban Design Award, the APA Inland Empire Chapter is encouraging a precedent of dangerous, automobile-centric 1950s design that doesn’t meet the needs of 21st century cities. While the safety hazards of this design might not seem to matter that much, it’s going to last a long time. If the Inland Empire continues to develop in a sprawling, car-centric manner (like the APA Chapter seems to encourage), this interchange could ultimately serve as yet another barrier to active transportation.

Boo, Inland Empire APA. If your vision to be “leaders in initiatives regarding the economy, environment, and equity,” is truly “the measure by which we want to be judged,” as the APA website claims, then we're judging. And this award is a fail.

Note: GJEL are sponsors of Streetsblog San Francisco. We were first alerted to this story on Twitter.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

Guest Commentary: Traffic Engineers Must Put Safety Over Driver Throughput

No other field would tolerate this level of death and destruction. The tragedy of West Portal is more evidence that the traffic engineering profession is fundamentally broken

March 28, 2024

Why We Care About Some Transportation Tragedies More Than Others

Why do we respond to major transportation disasters with so much urgency — and why don't we count our collective car crash epidemic among them?

March 28, 2024

Thursday’s Headlines

Climate change is affecting the earth's rotation; Republicans in Congress are out to kill California transit "boondoggles"; Reducing driving is essential; Rethinking intersections for safety; More

March 28, 2024

Transportation Commission: Touting Active Transportation, Approving Highway Expansions

Despite public pleas to stop spending on highway expansion, pro-expansion forces still take the day.

March 28, 2024

Survey Says: American Walking Data Is Getting Worse

The National Household Travel Survey has never given a full picture of how often Americans get around on foot. But a recent change in methodology may have made made matters worse.

March 27, 2024
See all posts