Within the North Loop, I was assigned to study the surrounding Trees and Landscape. Overall, the condition of trees was surprising, but still not as good as one would hope. When it came to the landscape condition along the highway… one can only guess that, yes, it was dangerous.

Trees:

The Tree Cover Map above shows how much of the surrounding area is covered by trees. Within my research I have noticed that trees provide a number of benefits to the community (besides giving the planet AIR). Benefits Include:

• Shade/Cooling (helps fight the Urban Heat Island Effect)
• Places to sit or lay (especially when paired with street furniture)
• Walls/Protection (against major roads or other dangerous areas)
• Creates a sense of place (makes a place feel comforting)
• Makes a Facade (blocks eyesores or inspires nicer development)

When it comes to trees around the North Loop I found that places with trees are in places that aren’t very practical for pedestrians. City Market Park (shown above) is tucked away behind the city market and faces 3rd street. Personally, I never even knew that City Market Park was there when I was in person walking around. To get to it you either need to go behind all the stores, enter through 3rd street, which isn’t pedestrian activated as well as 5th street, or walk past a fenced off parking lot on 5th street. This makes this park unable to be densely populated.

Places that were densely populated by pedestrians ended up being the least “green.” Within the River market there was no trees whatsoever and designed for cars to park even though the site has hundreds of pedestrians walking throughout the area. On the sidewalk closest to the Delaware Bridge had spots where trees were supposed to go, but then were removed. This empty pothole of sidewalk then becomes a hazard for walking pedestrians (I would know as I tripped into one).

On the other hand places that are very close to the highway and are potentially dangerous to pedestrians are full of trees! The diagram above shows clusters of trees within major roads, which becomes inaccessible to pedestrians, but where there are people always playing and hanging around (Columbus Park) in the top right corner there are only sparse spread out trees that provides little shade.

What we can do to improve the trees around the north loop is… you guessed it… PLANT MORE TREES! Especially in places that would benefit the community and the planet overall!

Landscape:

The landscape around the highway is infamously nicknamed “the ditch” for a good reason. Bridges have 15+ feet between the top of the ditch to the bottom. This is a problem when considering visibility, pedestrian traffic, and speed. When cars are within the ditch it is hard to see other traffic merging on and is hard to merge off. Pedestrians when walking near the ditch have no protection against slipping and rolling down into the highway and because there is a tunnel-like straight shot, cars are more prone to speeding as this part is marked as a 55 zone, but in my experience cars are going more towards 65 to 70 miles per hour.

The above section shows just how steep the highway is. If we were to make the North Loop friendly for pedestrians we would have to input stairs. The ideal slope for stairs is 25 to 50 degrees and the site is a 30 to 35 degree slope which is well with the range. This also puts into perspective how dangerous it is for pedestrians walking on the top. If people get curious and try to look down or get close, then that poses the risk of slipping and falling down.

In the meantime, I propose we create a tree barrier on the outside of the ditch. This would help the tree conditions and landscape conditions within the North Loop. As mentioned previously, trees can provide a barrier and facade to prevent people from trying to cross into the dangerous landscape conditions and making a “out of sight out of mind” mindset making people less curious about trying to look or go into said landscape anyway. Now, I hear people saying “but wouldn’t it make people MORE curious about what’s on the other side?” Possibly, but then comes the barrier part, people wouldn’t want to cross far past the trees AND it would create more apparent openings to look from the safe bridges.

Overall:

When it comes to Trees and landscape the North Loop has great potential to create a unique and inviting experience for all modes of transportation. We will be able to help the community, the planet, and other elements of the public realm if we improve these fundamental elements.