This summer, for the first time, Seattle banned cars in the Pike Place Market :
Last year (2024), some politicians said no one will shop here anymore if it’s pedestrianized :
https://publicola.com/2024/04/02/dont-open-pike-place-to-pedestrians-council-member-urges/
Yeah I remember my underground tour guide referring to one particular area known as Profanity Hill due to how hard it was to climb it on foot. The city’s an amazing place to walk around despite the shitty street layouts.
I still find the Denny regrade astounding.
Basically:
Fuck this hill in particular, blast it with high powered hoses and pumps, then use the dirt from the hill to make pioneer square more level.
Like… the parts of the actual underground… those were originally street level, they just buried the roads and buildings in roughly a story or two ish of dirt…
…and while they were doing this, you still had the doors to these buildings at original street level, that people could walk into on the sidewalks… with scaffold/retaining walls for the new roads.
I had heard that a worker or two fell off the… new, raised street, onto the original street level sidewalks.
Seattle is, and always has been, an urban design clownshow.
Though they have made a lot of good progress with the lightrail expansions and reworkings of various public areas.
I’ve bicycled Denny. It’s a great workout.