Plan to cap the 101 freeway in Downtown LA with a park moves forward
The plan to build a park over a section of the 101 freeway through Downtown may sound far-fetched, but it’s making progress.
“We are in a strong outreach phase to bring awareness now that we have completed all three phases of the parks analysis, feasibility and viability,” Elizabeth Peterson-Gower, president of Friends of Park 101, tells Curbed.
Peterson-Gower notes that the so-called cap park—which would extend between Hill and Los Angeles streets over the freeway—is included in both the Union Station Master Plan and the Downtown LA Community Plan update, adding legitimacy to the proposal.
If built, the park would reconnect two sections of Downtown that have long been separated by the chasm of a highway.
The Friends are launching an outreach program this month and will host a fundraising gala in October. Peterson-Gower says proceeds will help pay for an environmental impact report for the cap park.
A PowerPoint presentation from the Friends of Park 101, the nonprofit working to make the park happen, shows off some preliminary ideas about how the final product might look with renderings and programming by SWA Group.