Project Page Portola Freeway Greenway
How can underutilized infrastructure edges be transformed into a co-created community space?
PORTOLA FREEWAY GREENWAY
Our cities are full of fringe, forgotten spaces adjacent to major infrastructure. For the Portola neighborhood of San Francisco, the community has started reviving these leftover easements and buffers along Highways 280 and 101 into community green spaces.
Location / Date:
San Francisco, CA / 2017-Present
Status:
Under Construction
Site area:
¼-mile linear park
Client:
Portola Neighborhood Association
Design Collaborators:
Portola Garden Club, Connie Migliazzo, San Francisco Landscapes
In the News:
Project Website
A Greenway Haven Grows Alongside The Highway 101 Soundwall
San Francisco’s Portola Neighborhood Just Got a 16-Foot Gothic Gate. See Where It Leads
Portola Garden District Returns to Its Roots
Signs of life: From Union Square style to Portola soul
Following two successful pocket parks, SITELAB partnered with The Greenhouse Project, the Portola Neighborhood Association (PNA), and the Portola Urban Greening Steering Committee to create a new public open space along an undeveloped easement adjacent to Highway 101 between Burrows Street and Bacon Street. Through collaboration with Caltrans under the leadership of State Assemblyman Chiu, the 400’ long greenway (“The Green Between”)will build on the energy created around the existing Burrows Pocket Park and transform an underutilized space into a new public place of respite near the neighborhood’s commercial corridor.
Community Engagement
SITELAB led design, community engagement efforts, and permitting. Approximately 200 community members engaged in workshops in July 2017 and April 2018 to share their vision for the space and design the new neighborhood flag that will mark the park entrance. The project was awarded three Community Challenge Grants (CCG) and work has since extended for an additional block—a testament to a commitment to volunteerism and open space stewardship in the neighborhood. The first phase of the Freeway Greenway is set to open publicly in 2024, and SITELAB is working with the PNA to extend the greenway for an additional three blocks.
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