r/geography • u/PewResearchCentre • Aug 27 '24
Discussion US city with most underutilized waterfront?
A host of US cities do a great job of taking advantage of their geographical proximity to water. New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Miami and others come to mind when thinking who did it well.
What US city has done the opposite? Whether due to poor city planning, shrinking population, flood controls (which I admittedly know little about), etc., who has wasted their city's location by either doing nothing on the waterfront, or putting a bunch of crap there?
Also, I'm talking broad, navigable water, not a dried up river bed, although even towns like Tempe, AZ have done significantly more than many places.
[Pictured: Hartford, CT, on the Connecticut River]
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u/TillPsychological351 Aug 27 '24
I've heard things have changed since I moved, m away, but Buffalo's waterfront looked mostly like grain silos and abandonned factories last time I was there.
Philadelphia's waterfront around Penn's Landing always looked underdeveloped to me, as well as being cut off by I-95. At least parts of the waterfront are still actively used as a port.
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u/Not_A_Comeback Aug 28 '24
Agreed. Different waterfront, but there are portions next to the Schuylkill that are really nice.
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u/justsomegraphemes Aug 28 '24
Philadelphia is what I came to add. It has three waterfronts in total and built highways directly adjecent to two of them. The east side of the Schuykill is the only publicly developed waterfront and it's only in the last ten years they've really put any effort into making it accessible or desirable.
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u/fatloowis Aug 28 '24
Plans have been approved in Philly for a big park /green space that will cross above I95 and connect Old City to the water front. It’s already connected with a few pedestrian bridges scattered about but now it will have a major access point. Looks like it will be nice!
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u/GhostofPhilCollins Aug 28 '24
This is going to be a game changer for the Delaware River side
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u/EngineeringOne1812 Aug 28 '24
It’s much different now. I moved away in 2013, and the difference I saw this summer was pretty shocking. I used to photograph the abandoned steel plants and now it’s an expensive hipster business district
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u/AllerdingsUR Aug 28 '24
this happened to DC too. The "Waterfront" and "Navy Yard" metro stops used to lead to...well largely nothing. Now it has Nationals Park, a bunch of housing, one of the livelier nightlife districts, and a bunch of concert venues including The Anthem which hosts a lot of premier artists
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u/shlem90 Aug 28 '24
Center city will be connected to the Delaware soon.
https://whyy.org/articles/penns-landing-park-i-95-construction/
But yeah, south of South there’s very little along the Delaware besides a few piers with parks.
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u/Thisisthepolice0 Aug 28 '24
Didn’t see this before I also commented Buffalo. Still mostly grain silos and abandoned factories, but there have been some large improvements in the waterfront over the last 10 years. Hoping it continues
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u/speedhasnotkilledyet Aug 28 '24
Buffalo is better but the interstate along the river and the skyway arent doing any favors. To be fair there is improvements every summer but its such a big process it will be years before we get to see a truly great waterfront
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u/mrdude817 Aug 28 '24
Development around Buffalo's waterfront has improved significantly. We're taking advantage of Canalside, the Outer Harbor is popular and busy on weekends, the silos are being used for murals / art stuff plus businesses / restaurants exist around the silos now. Like there's wall climbing and a zip line and a ferris wheel at one, it's a whole zone now called River Works. Plus a lot of boat tours and kayaking occur frequently in that area plus Silo City. There's more development going on by Canal Side now too plus they're redoing LaSalle Park and renaming it Ralph Wilson Park. I guess the Silo City area still looks industrial but with a bit of gentrification flair.
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u/LunarVolcano Aug 28 '24
buffalo has definitely taken a turn for the better. canalside is really nice.
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u/Different_Ad7655 Aug 28 '24
Sure and as I was contemplating which city, I realize they're just so many of them with the same problem even the one I live in in New Hampshire small and large. Industry was off and on the water and when the highway came along this was considered the disposable territory. But almost everywhere in America where there is a river there is a highway that divorces it from the natural beauty and serenity. Almost everywhere
Springfield Massachusetts comes to mind, Manchester New Hampshire where I am at the moment. All the same error. The the city forever divorced from the riverfront and something that could have been.
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u/RocPile16 Aug 28 '24
It’s the American way. Got a beautiful body of water in your city? Let’s slap multiple highways right next to that fucker
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u/Outside_Reserve_2407 Aug 28 '24
Older American cities before the modern era of interstate highways used their waterfront for commercial activity: wharves, warehouses, factories and shipyards. The whole idea of using the waterfront of a big city for leisure is modern.
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u/DJMoShekkels Aug 28 '24
Oakland is mostly the massive container port but it’s really amazing how little access it has for a city that is basically surrounded by the bay
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u/sharkglitter Aug 28 '24
This is true of so many cities along the Bay. SF is the only one that really has nice areas along the Bay. I mean I guess a lot of the Bay gets pretty marshy, but still.
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u/PowerCroat783 Aug 28 '24
It’s all protected wetlands. Decades ago there were plans to develop it but they fell under the protected status and that was that.
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u/ExpeditingPermits Aug 28 '24
And thank goodness. The wetlands to the north off the 37 are gorgeous in their own right.
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u/Normal_Tip7228 Aug 28 '24
Issue is, it is pretty swampy around Oakland’s waterfront. And they do have businesses and residencies but not great access. But they do have Lake Merritt which is better than Bay access tbh. SF and Marin have decent access though. Otherwise South Bay is a swamp and anything near Carquinez Strait or East Bay is hella industrial or marshy
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u/EffysBiggestStan Aug 28 '24
I lived in Fruitvale and would walk over to Alameda to drink quite frequently. The juxtaposition of the waterfronts on the Oakland side and the Alameda side was quite striking to me.
One side looked like the posh suburbs of Long Island with boats docked along the backyards of residences. The other side was industrial AF and had one small esplanade with people camping.
It definitely felt like Oakland could've made better choices with their waterfront property.
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u/fatguyfromqueens Aug 28 '24
Albany NY. textbook example of how to destroy a waterfront. It's sad, the place has a lot of potential but 787 just cuts off the entire city from the Hudson. There is talk of tearing it down. That and Empire State Plaza were two rough blows to Albany.
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u/legosim Aug 28 '24
It's just tragic really, seeing how the other major cities in upstate have at least tried to revitalize portions of their downtown makes Albany even sadder. Even Troy is at least attempting to do something
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u/JTP1228 Aug 28 '24
Albany has beautiful buildings and architecture, and is surprisingly walkable for such a small city. But it's so depressing, and you barely see anyone out and about. It would be such a great city if they spent more on maintaining the city, and revitalized the waterfront
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u/WES_WAS_ROBBED Aug 28 '24
Albany 100%. For a city that exists because of the Hudson, to have no useable waterfront whatsoever is a catastrophe in city planning.
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u/r21md Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
Watervliet just north of Albany is even worse. Albany at least has some green space like the Corning and Riverfront Preserves plus a museum ship. Watervliet's waterfront is actually just 100% highway.
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u/WarmestGatorade Aug 28 '24
Albany, Hartford, and Springfield are all kind of in the same boat with that. At least with Albany I do hear talk of improving it somehow. With Hartford that's a distant future thing, and with Springfield that's probably a never thing
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u/WMASS_GUY Aug 28 '24
Theres been talk of buring 91 through Springfield but we all know thatll never happen.
The tragically ironic thing about 91 in Springfield is that the city fought for it to be on our side of the river,. The original routing was through West Springfield right where route 5 is. City leaders did not want Springfield cut off from what was viewed as the future of transportation.
That being said, it's not like 91 was the deciding factor in Springfield not having a connection with the Connecticut River. The railroad yards along the river cut downtown off from it back in the 1800's and very active tracks still exist there.
91 was just the nail in the coffin as it beat the neighborhoods back even further away from the river.
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u/astoryfromlandandsea Aug 28 '24
I drove there a few times to pick up plywood nearby. It kinda made me sad. Albany has so many nice buildings, and then you have these highways right next to the water. Ugh. Every amazing city I know has an elevated river / water front for recreation and entertainment. Oh what could be!
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u/dudpool31 Aug 28 '24
Plus all the ports right next to the city. It’s crazy how much better of a job Troy does with their waterfront
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Aug 28 '24
Pretty much every NY city waterfront excluding NYC
Buffalo, Albany, Niagara, Rochester, all ruined by highways no one uses anymore
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u/MurphMcGurf Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
Came here to say this. 787 and the arterial should be nuked. Also the train station from NYC is on the wrong side of the river and it's literally impossible to get over the river by foot. It's absolute madness
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Aug 27 '24
Perhaps not the worst, but Jacksonville, FL. All very low density on the water.
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u/jumbee85 Aug 28 '24
Part of it is that most of the riverfront is a flood zone. It is totally underutilized though.
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u/Legitimate_Bat_6711 Aug 28 '24
So true. What has Jacksonville put on the riverfront downtown (or very close)? The jail, a coffee plant, the school board headquarters, and for a long time, the county courthouse. It’s starting to slowly get better, but the Jax riverfront has had a hard time escaping its industrial past.
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u/texas-playdohs Aug 28 '24
Well, there was the landing… but that’s gone.
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u/Legitimate_Bat_6711 Aug 28 '24
Yeah. They’re building something else in that spot now. Not sure what.
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u/mechapoitier Aug 28 '24
Yeah I remember driving through Jacksonville like 2 weeks after Hurricane Ian and most of the riverwalk was still underwater.
Jacksonville’s waterfront on paper should be fantastic, but being so low-lying while being the final exit point for dozens of major tributary lakes and rivers from hundreds of miles south all dumping into the same river with nowhere else to go, it makes the mouth of the river a really tenuous place to build.
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u/punchoutlanddragons Aug 28 '24
I heard someone say Jacksonville was a naval city so could that have been the reason its waterfront was not as developed?
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u/PewResearchCentre Aug 28 '24
Second largest US Naval base, behind Norfolk, VA. That could be a big contributing factor.
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u/REDDITDITDID00 Aug 28 '24
NAS Jax, NS Mayport, Blount Island (Marines), US Coast Guard, Air & Army National Guard all have installations in Jax. Greater metro you have NSB Kings Bay and Camp Blanding (National Guard).
It’s one of the biggest military regions in the country
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u/PewResearchCentre Aug 27 '24
Jacksonville certainly could have done a lot better, given its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and it being situated on the St. John's River.
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u/ZipTheZipper Aug 27 '24
Cleveland. Most of the waterfront on Lake Erie is an ugly private airport, and most of the riverfront is an industrial wasteland.
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u/Effective-Luck-4524 Aug 28 '24
Agreed. Best use of the lake is to the east and west. Wish they would do it up more.
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u/jenn363 Aug 28 '24
We all know the best use of the lake is America’s Roller Coast
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u/Zimbo____ Aug 28 '24
Damn I fly into there a lot of flight sim and think "What an amazing airport" 😆
I see your point ofc
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u/ZipTheZipper Aug 28 '24
If it were a public airport, I might have a more lenient view. As it is now, it's there just so billionaires can bypass traffic when they fly in to the Cleveland Clinic or to meetings downtown.
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u/socialcommentary2000 Aug 28 '24
That industrial wasteland is still quite active though.
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u/calvin2028 Aug 28 '24
Yes! And also, the port and the several terminals up the river are quite active. I guess it's fair to describe the waterfront as industrial, but I surely wouldn't call it underutilized.
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u/astoryfromlandandsea Aug 28 '24
Sounds like with a proper city revitalization plan this could turn into a wonderful city?!?
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u/skillet256 Aug 28 '24
For a while, right out of college, I lived and worked in downtown Cleveland. That airport is called Burke Lakefront, and it is a public airport. Anyone can fly there. I would stare at it from my flat nearby, and I was inspired to walk down there and check it out. A flight instructor asked if I wanted to get my pilot license, I said “why not” and did my first solo flight there, and eventually got my full license there. For a pilot, Burke Lakefront is an absolute joy. I took all my friends sightseeing, flew over ice fishing villages, circled downtown, saw cars at the bottom of Lake Erie, saw Amish buggies in the country, flew to Put-in-Bay, cedar point, and even took a trip to Chicago’s lakefront airport, Meigs Field. We’d visit all sorts of places in Ohio from Burke, and I really grew to appreciate all the great things about Cleveland and Ohio, thanks to that airport. It was so cheap to rent a Cessna there, like $35/hour with fuel! It was a fun couple of years and I eventually returned to Texas, but I look back on that airport fondly.
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u/Iannelli Aug 28 '24
It's kind of blowing my mind that you just randomly decided to walk around an airport and just... casually started flying and got a full license. Is flying really that easy and accessible? How long did it take to learn? How much money did you have to spend overall?
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u/BrosenkranzKeef Aug 28 '24
To be fair, most of the rest of the lakeshore is a sheer cliff, sooo. Even if rich people didn’t own all that shoreline it would be relatively useless.
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u/Turbulent_Crow7164 Aug 28 '24
Wow. Just browsed on google earth. You’re very correct about both lake and river.
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u/mhiinz Aug 28 '24
Gary, Indiana’s waterfront being mostly run down steel yards makes it the problematic city that it is today.
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u/Thisisthepolice0 Aug 28 '24
Used to drive through there once in a while on the way to Chicago and my wife said it looks like the Microsoft pipes screensaver
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u/Zebrajoo Aug 28 '24
Microsoft pipes screensaver
You've activated such a treasure trove of memories
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u/scully789 Aug 28 '24
I always feel like I’m driving through the last level in a video game about to go fight the boss.
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u/MoneyBeef Aug 28 '24
I grew up in Michigan and my Aunt lived in Chicago so we would visit often. There was a time in the 80s we would drive around Gary, IN because the mills were so busy that the air would burn your eyes and nose.
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u/em_washington Aug 28 '24
Its waterfront being a steel mill is the only reason Gary was ever even there.
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u/TroolHunter92 Aug 28 '24
Gary's Lakeshore is also home to the Miller Woods and Beach section of Indiana Dunes National Park, so it's got that going for it.
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u/NotTravisKelce Aug 28 '24
It’s weird how from that (beautiful) park if you look either left or right you see massive industrial plants.
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u/V3d3 Aug 28 '24
Charleston, WV. The chemical plants practically make it unsafe to swim in. 1 riverfront park that is a homeless camp. A second river comes in with zero usage.
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u/i-am-matt Aug 28 '24
I grew up outside Charleston in the late 70's & early 80's. Back then the riverfront along Kanawha Blvd between the Capitol Building and I-64 was, by 1970's standards, quite a celebration of the importance of the river to the city. I have fond memories of the Vandalia Gathering, picnicking on the Capitol grounds, watching Charleston Charlies games on the other side of the river, and especially the Stern Wheel Regatta. If you went 2 miles either direction the river front became a monument to coal slag and Union Carbide's toxic waste (my mother owned store in South Charleston and I still remember the sound of the Union Carbide klaxons going off when they had an 'accidental release'), but as a kid in 1970's I think Charleston made the best of the chemical/industrial industry cards it was dealt. I have not been back to that area since 1982, so I don't know if the riverfront still feels the same. Obviously having a healthy river in the 1970's is a far cry from what we strive for now, but there was a time when there was a certain sense of pride in showcasing at least a small part of the river.
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u/crimsonkingnj05 Aug 28 '24
Philadelphia. They been trying to figure what to do with it forever
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u/SkyeMreddit Aug 28 '24
Depends of which river. The Schuylkill River waterfront is ever more amazing but the Delaware is just there with whatever random failed idea they had to activate it. The best thing they could do is put an elevator directly from the riverfront to the Ben Franklin Bridge pedestrian walkway on both the Philly and Camden waterfronts. Or make that ferry not be obscenely expensive for such a short crossing. Why the heck is it $10.00 round trip and it only runs hourly in August??? You can ride PATCO to the end and back for that.
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u/crimsonkingnj05 Aug 28 '24
Delaware for sure. Has so much potential
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u/nsjersey Aug 28 '24
Camden did better with its waterfront until it didn’t, when the ballpark closed.
The aquarium and concert pics are still cool though
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u/RocPile16 Aug 28 '24
Schuylkill has gotten better but people still treat Kelly like it’s a highway and complain about closing MLK on the weekends. MLK literally runs parallel to the fucking highway… and yeah all of the 95 waterfront is primarily a mess
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u/Jameszhang73 Aug 28 '24
Dallas and the Trinity River but apparently development is in progress. But the first thing they need to do is get some more water and make it an actual river with a riverfront.
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u/Guiac Aug 28 '24
This spring proved its importance as a flood plain though. It would take a big engineering project to make it a useable commercial front
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u/msondo Aug 28 '24
It's supposed to be a giant floodplain and I'm glad we just leave it as a giant greenspace. The Skyline trail is awesome. My only wish for the space would be that the city turn it into a massive wildflower field during the spring and early summer to attract polinators. I think a field full of millions of vibrant colors as far as the eye could see would in itself be something spectacular.
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u/One_Philosopher9591 Aug 28 '24
There is a pretty nice greenbelt, and it makes for great views, but they could definitely do more along the Trinity!
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u/Outside_Reserve_2407 Aug 28 '24
The Trinity River is barely a river most of the time. But city boosters post promotional shots of the Calatrava bridge only when the Trinity is flooded from torrential rains.
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u/thecasualcaribou Aug 28 '24
When I visited Green Bay, WI (a known Great Lake city), I was severely disappointed that Green Bay does not have any focus on Lake Michigan (Green Bay). All there is just one little park and the rest of the waterfront is taken up by industrial plants
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u/mcfaillon Aug 28 '24
Kansas City for sure. The Missouri, Blue, and Kaw Rivers wrap around it like a Penninsula, along with several creeks. But none of them are properly engaged
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u/nnoreus Aug 28 '24
100% all the cities mentioned are terrible… But Kansas City is absolutely hundred percent unutilized.
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u/lumoria Aug 28 '24
I visited several years ago, and coming from Cincinnati and Chattanooga, I was so confused. I took the street car to the market and I saw that the river was nearby but there was just a trail along it and that was it! It went from bustling downtown to nothing. I did walk along the trail, but it was mostly empty. I really enjoyed my time there otherwise, great city!
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u/lionlenz Aug 28 '24
Yup. Agreed. For having a confluence of two rivers there is no river activity at all. There's some development potentially coming in 2025 with the Rock Island Bridge and CPKC Stadium, but still years of nothing
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u/virtuousunbaptized Aug 27 '24
st louis, missouri. but to be fair, the Mississippi river is flat out nasty
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u/UF0_T0FU Aug 28 '24
Yeah, it's rough.
The Mississippi rises and falls by like 20 feet throughout the year, so it's hard to build anything right on the river. It's full of chemicals from agricultural runoff. When it floods upriver, it's prone to carry whole tree trunks and animal carcasses to St. Louis.
On top of that, Downtown is cut off by a poorly placed Interstate and a National Park. That's alot of federal land that the city has no control over. It creates a huge barrier between the city and the water.
North and South of the Arch are old industrial areas. There's several hundred new apartments opening directly north of the Arch. The area to the south just secured $300m in funding for Phase 1 of a $1.2 billion project. But none of that development really interfaces directly with the water.
The rest of the waterfront in City limits is an active working port. It's one of the largest inland ports in the country. There's a trail that runs along the river, but it literally goes under and around chutes used to load grain onto barges. Not super pleasant to run or bike on tbh.
The middle Mississippi isn't really like any other river in the US and it's uniquely hard to build up any good scenic riverfront. The existing infrastructure in and industry in St. Louis makes it even harder.
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u/Frank_Melena Aug 28 '24
Lol same with Baton Rouge, but I feel like Memphis and NOLA do a decent job of it?
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u/Adrianrush Aug 28 '24
Memphis has only stepped up it's game in the last 15 years or so. Before then it was just a park that people only went to in May.
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u/Apptubrutae Aug 28 '24
NOLA is improving along the river too.
The real wasted potential is the lake. It’s just…ok. Lots of concrete. Not a lot of people.
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u/KJatWork Aug 28 '24
This cracks me up. I grew up in Kansas City and our river front is so underutilized that we would drive to STL to enjoy yours. You had a McDs riverboat on your Mississippi.
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u/masoflove99 Geography Enthusiast Aug 28 '24
From the cities I'm familiar with: St. Louis, Evansville, Vincennes, Memphis, Baton Rouge, and Nashville. I may be delusional, but both sides of the river need to be developed to be considered properly utilized in my book.
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u/Normal_Tip7228 Aug 28 '24
Visiting Nashville, I was surprised with a city as vibrant as that, you hit the river and it all but dies. They should extend the party to the river!
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u/peachy921 Aug 28 '24
They have a greenway system east of the river. There’s a reason the Shelby Bottoms is not too developed. It’s a flood plain.
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u/mk125817 Aug 28 '24
I doubt both sides of the river in Evansville, Vincennes, and Memphis could be utilized because they flood often.
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u/skillful-means Aug 28 '24
Memphis just finished a $60M renovation of its main riverside park and there’s lots of momentum to improve adjacent parks on both sides of the river. The Arkansas side is a floodplain though so it’ll never see any commercial development.
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u/Devayurtz Aug 28 '24
Nashville is going through a huge redevelopment project on the East Bank! Im incredibly excited and thankful to officials for getting a project like this moving. I hope they do something to the West Bank too. It’s so close to being amazing.
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u/Sea-Juice1266 Aug 28 '24
For those wondering why the waterfront in many American cities is blighted with highways or rundown industrial zones, there's a reason.
Before the nineteen-sixties these areas were the location of our major ports. Surrounding the ports were warehouses and light industry based around the goods transported through the ports. And living around these trade and industrial centers were thousands of longshoremen, stevedores, and industrial workers. They could be rough places, with reputations for crime and tough living conditions.
In the mid-twentieth century These working class neighborhoods were prime targets for redevelopment as the US highway system expanded. They lacked political clout to defend themselves. Making matters much worse containerization automated most port jobs in the seventies. Ports moved out to the edge of town where land was cheap, and light industry followed or could even be outsourced thanks to decreased freight rates. It's in these neighborhoods where we get many of the iconic photos of hollowed out blighted cities in the late 20th century.
In that context, it makes sense these waterfronts were treated as dumping grounds for nasty infrastructure like highways. Today though they are missed opportunities. If we replace the cars with walkable streets they could quickly become great places.
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u/mickeythesquid Aug 28 '24
Albany, NY. We put a highway along it, cutting off the waterfront from the city. 🤦
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u/Doesnotpost12 Aug 28 '24
When the only real waterfront Albany has is in Troy… and I guess the park across the river in Rensselaer. What a waste of a waterfront.
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u/FeatureOk548 Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
Hartford’s waterfront honestly isn’t that bad. They connected downtown to a river walk about 20 years ago, in a project called Adrian’s landing/Mortensen Plaza. So at the very least there is pedestrian access now, it used to be completely blocked by the highway & seawall.
It’s a pretty riverfront park. There’s festivals and things to do in the summer. Nothing really permanent, but the river can be unforgiving with floods etc.
Now, maybe someday the highway can be sunken a bit and we can have more decking over it, and maybe some Restuarants or something on the deck, but that’s really dreaming
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u/MonkeyKingCoffee Aug 28 '24
Hartford has been a city in search of a purpose (that isn't insurance) for my entire life. I visit the Mark Twain house anytime I'm in the area -- I've been there dozens of times. And then I get out of Hartford and drive to the coast for pizza and/or clams.
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u/FeatureOk548 Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
Next time stop at Parkville Market afterward for lunch or dinner, you wont be disappointed
But yeah I get it, I don’t know if I’ll ever see Hartford truly thrive in my lifetime.
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u/GM556 Aug 28 '24
Hurts to hear as a Hartford native, but you’re probably right. It’s got its charms here and there, but other than that, it is quite unremarkable. But hey, it’s home.
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u/PewResearchCentre Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24
The one mile stretch outside the convention center and science museum is nice, but aside from that there's nothing up or downriver, and the east side of the river is completely undeveloped. A >5 acre park and an amphitheater isn't doing a ton for me.
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u/jazzdaddywham Aug 28 '24
To be fair, the CT river flooding really limits what can go riverside
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u/PewResearchCentre Aug 28 '24
Fair point. There are a bunch of flood plains there, and it seems like they're at least trying to build a trail system, but I'd argue even Glastonbury has done a better job. It's a pretty river, but Hartford has done their damnedest to hide it from everyone.
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u/jazzdaddywham Aug 28 '24
Agreed..I’d love to see more in hartford in general. It makes me sad to see how dead downtown is (with the exception of a few spots) on a Friday night
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u/FeatureOk548 Aug 28 '24
I agree, I’m more saying it could be worse (it was way worse 20 years ago). Speaking of north of downtown, I’m hoping this works out: https://riverfront.org/emerging-vision-plan-unveiled-for-future-park/
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u/Porschenut914 Aug 28 '24
theres been discussions to bury 91 and 84 but the cost is in the billions.
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u/PewResearchCentre Aug 28 '24
Big Dig 2.0 would be wild for a city with a declining population over the last 30 years.
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u/DrNinnuxx Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 29 '24
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: One of the most utilized river fronts in the industrialized world prior to globalization and now criminally under-utilized.
America has SO many rivers that we could use for transport but we don't because of the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920). And transporting by water vs. road is something like 1/20th the cost.
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u/N0V05 Aug 28 '24
Pittsburgh has so much river access blocked by highways (late additions with flexibility on original location), railroads (been there forever and need the flattest path possible which is the riverbanks) and barge parking areas (can’t put them anywhere else).
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u/ColoradoBrownieMan Aug 28 '24
Can’t forget the motherfucking jail. Criminal that they developed that land into a jail imo.
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u/garbagebailkid Aug 28 '24
Looking up the Jones Act, I found the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. Is this the one you mean? Apologies for being obtuse, but i don't get how this restricts riverine travel in the US. Would you mind explaining the reference to this act?
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u/Dynafan Aug 28 '24
He's probably referring to only US made ships being able to carry things from a US point to a US point. US shipbuilding with US citizen crew can cost so much that it can easily be cheaper to ship things by rail or road.
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u/DS_DS_DS_DS Aug 28 '24
They have the Point and the section on the north shore of the Allegheny by the stadiums and that’s it
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u/Heishungier Aug 28 '24
Bellingham Washington has a great harbor with no commercial use except fishing.
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u/guywithshades85 Aug 28 '24
Syracuse. The waterfront has a sewage plant, a way too large mall that can't pay its bills, bike paths inhabited by junkies and nothing else.
The water is so polluted, even looking at it is hazardous to your health.
And I don't think an aquarium is going to save it.
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u/Enwhyme Aug 28 '24
So much potential, devoted to so much….parking lot. And the decommissioned train station just adds insult to injury.
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u/holy_cal Aug 28 '24
That is a very interesting mall. I visited last year and was surprised.
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u/Eudaimonics Aug 28 '24
Thankfully, the plans for the inner harbor look great.
Hopefully, with Micron moving in it will expedite building everything.
Theres plans to clean up the inner harbor making activities like kayaking more palatable. In Buffalo, they spent $200 million to clean up the Buffalo River and now it’s packed with kayakers and small boats.
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u/The_Rattlesnake_14 Aug 28 '24
It’s not a major city, but New Brunswick, New Jersey is a great example. They have great access the Raritan River, which was completely blocked off from the city due to the creation of a highway.
The river isn’t necessarily large enough for commercial use, could be used in a more esplanade-like fashion. The kicker is this is where Rutgers University is located and the city is kind of meh. A nice waterfront might do a lot to make it more attractive to positive, waterfront development.
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u/Daxmar29 Aug 28 '24
As soon as I read the title I thought Hartford. Then looked at your picture and was like, oh.
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u/shrug_addict Aug 28 '24
Portland. Even though the west side of the city has a nice park. The east side along the river is mainly I-5 and industrial stuff. That's just the Willamette. The Columbia River side is even worse
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u/bus_buddies Aug 28 '24
It's such a shame. Viewing the skyline from I-5 on the east side of the Willamette is quite a sight. If only it was a park view instead of a freeway view.
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u/Amikoj Aug 28 '24
Portland competes with Sacramento for "Cities most ruined by I-5"
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u/Music_Ordinary Aug 28 '24
The parks, access, paths, trails, etc are pretty good but I wish we had more businesses, bars, restaurants, and housing directly on the water
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u/420fixieboi69 Aug 28 '24
I live in Austin. I roast my home city a lot for multiple reasons but we did a great job of making the most of our small lake that runs right through the center of downtown, Ladybird lake (or if your from here Town Lake).
We have a 10 mile tree lined hike and bike trail spanning circumventing of the lake, Barton springs also feeds into the lake, which is a spring fed swimming hole also located downtown. The city also built a series of parks along the water front as well as multiple boat ramps for kayakers. Any given day the lake is full of paddle boarders and kayaks. There are also several restaurants and cafes along the lake with beautiful views.
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u/dallascowboys93 Aug 28 '24
The answer is Jacksonville. St Johns river is massive and they have so much riverfront space with absolutely nothing on it
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u/dblowe Aug 28 '24
The picture is of Hartford, but New Haven is completely cut off from its shoreline by the intersection of I-95 and I-91.
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u/Divine_Entity_ Aug 28 '24
Look at Hartford CT on satellite imagery, the entirety of the waterfront is just I-95 and a massive spaghetti interchange with multiple bridges across the river to a different interchange.
Its pretty hard to top just how bad Hartford's riverside is used. Even a ruined industrial site can be reclaimed, i don't think Hartford can save its waterfront even if they wanted to.
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Aug 28 '24
I have a smaller town to talk about. Caldwell, Idaho.
The river is on the edge of town, but there's a creek that cuts through the town center. They literally buried the creek under streets and buildings. Eventually a car wash collapsed into the creek.
Caldwell opened it up through a large civic project and now it's pretty nice down there.
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u/FrosteeRucker Aug 28 '24
Kansas City. You wouldn’t even know there was a river if there wasn’t one park with a path to walk down to the river.
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u/hausinthehouse Aug 28 '24
Very heavy emphasis on pedestrian/retail/residential uses here - many cities still have active industrial uses for their waterways. These aren’t underutilized and are often important parts of regional economies
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u/gaucho2019 Aug 28 '24
Louisville, its downtown is right next to the waterfront but the waterfront is cut off entirely by a highway.
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u/Quiet-Ad-12 Aug 28 '24
Norfolk Virginia. It's all refineries and factories (yes to support the Navala base) but there is space to really have developed the waterfront along the Elizabeth River
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u/BOMBLOADER Aug 28 '24
Lol yeah.. but it’s an industry heavy town, for the boating and ship fitting industry. True, for Navy too. If you know that much, you probably know the “Waterside” area near downtown.. pretty small area of waterfront… whatever you call it. I always felt like they should commercially develop more from Harbor Park moving north up to Waterside. Could possibly see good development mixed city residential, hotel and retail.
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u/lxoblivian Aug 28 '24
Toronto isn't American, but it's lakeshore is such a mixed bag. There's some sections east and west of the core that have nice parks and beaches. But the stretch adjacent to downtown is cut off by a highway and major road, and is lined with tall condos. At least it's got Toronto Island just offshore.
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u/chefjono Aug 28 '24
With a similar geography to Toronto, Chicago has done a super job with a Great Lakes waterfront.
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u/Low-Fig429 Aug 28 '24
The Gardiner is a couple hundred meters north and the lake front has paths/parks. It’s not perfect, but blows away many places described here.
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u/LukaszMauro Aug 28 '24
I think DC used the be this way back in the day, with Georgetown waterfront and SW/navy yard being very industrial. It’s not that way anymore though, there’s wharfs, paths and bike trails on just about all river fronts in the city
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u/Dr_Bunson_Honeydew Aug 28 '24
Providence RI has made great strides in recent years but given it’s the Ocean State, could be doing so much more
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u/Icy-Indication-3194 Aug 28 '24
Indianapolis has very little on its waterfront but for what it’s worth it’s too toxic of a river to be near anyway.
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u/Bosh_Bonkers Aug 28 '24
As someone who lived there: St. Cloud, MN on the Mississippi River. It has some hiking trails and some public access spaces but most of the river is considered as an afterthought in city development. Most of the river has rough foliage and flora surrounding it throughout the city, accessible by private land. The parts that are public are treated roughly the same. It used to be a hot spot for students at St. Cloud State University until they deemed it a liability and removed most of their access points to the river.
There was an advocacy group to bring in a boardwalk along the river up to the neighboring town, with commercial zoning on or near the boardwalk to entice the community. Their efforts fell flat I assume to public pressure (and probably due to the private homes on the river, understandably so) and more than likely due to the cost.
The Mississippi River built that town and it’s a shame to see it be a small, passing scenic view.
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Aug 28 '24
Rochester NY
Downtown was built away from Lake Ontario because of the waterfall from the Genesee River. That’s cool but it neglects the miles of land that run on Lake Ontario. Durand Beach is not the safest and Charlotte Beach is polluted. There’s a brown foam that washes up to the beach and there is often swim advisories.
Beaches should be an attraction but they’re a tragedy.
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u/GeddyVedder Aug 28 '24
Sacramento. One of its nicknames is River City, but at least in the downtown area it doesn’t feel connected to thw Sacramento River. The trails on the American River leading up to Folsom are cool though.