Freeway lid

Washington State Convention Center and Freeway Park form lids over Interstate 5 in Seattle, Washington, United States.

A freeway lid (also known as a freeway cap, highway cap or highway deck) is a deck bridge built on top of a controlled-access highway or other roadway. It is commonly used to create new parkland in urban areas, but can also support buildings or other heavy structures such as convention centers. In some locations, the terms stitch or cap-and-stitch are used to describe overpasses containing widened bridges that accommodate wider sidewalks or small amenity space beside the roadway above the highway.

Cities and highway departments who propose building freeway lids over highways often cite potential benefits including reconnecting street grids near highways, or providing increased access to neighborhoods harmed by displacement caused by past highway construction. Freeway lids are often criticized by highway expansion opponents, who accuse highway departments of using freeway lids to "greenwash" their lane expansion projects to be more palatable to the public.

Goals

In the United States, common goals of freeway lids are to reclaim urban street space, and to reconnect neighborhoods bisected by freeway construction.

In several cases, lids are proposed in conjunction with freeway expansion projects, leading to accusations that the lid is used to make the expansion palatable to a public that might otherwise oppose it. A plan by Oregon Department of Transportation to widen and cap Interstate 5 through the Albina neighborhood of Portland was supported by some local community groups, but also engendered lawsuits from groups opposed to the expansion.

Examples

Proposed Projects

Name Location Description
Reconnect Rondo Saint Paul, Minnesota A plan to cap a section of I-94 through the Rondo Neighborhood

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pyati, Archana (April 7, 2017). "Freeway Lids: Reconnecting Communities and Creating New Land for Development". Urban Land Institute. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ Berger, Knute (July 16, 2017). "One simple idea to open up Downtown Seattle". Crosscut.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  3. ↑ "More Cities Are Banishing Highways Underground — And Building Parks on Top". pew.org. 2 April 2018.
  4. ↑ McAfee, Katy (September 13, 2022). "City of Austin seeks community input on I-35 Cap and Stitch program". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Moore, Martha T. (April 2, 2018). "More Cities Are Banishing Highways Underground — And Building Parks on Top". Stateline. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Reader, Grace (September 28, 2022). "Austin City Council set to vote on federal I-35 'cap and stitch' funding". KXAN. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  7. ↑ https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/11/rose-quarter-project-oregon-transportation-commission-portland/
  8. ↑ Kroman, David (May 9, 2023). "7 acres, 3 lids: Eastside cities want the state to mow the lawn". The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  9. ↑ "FHWA - Center for Innovative Finance Support - Project Profiles". Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  10. ↑ "The Land Bridge". ReConnect Rondo. Retrieved 2026-08-14.