Submitted by PienotPi t3_11e6aah in philadelphia
all4whatnot t1_jacsysg wrote
Does Old City sit much higher in elevation than Penn's Landing? I guess they'll have to terrace or make these parks sloped somehow to connect everything up.
Blewedup t1_jactu68 wrote
old cities tend to grow higher, because over the years they just build on top of old stuff. it's why you can find entire neighborhoods underground in modern rome.
a-german-muffin t1_jacyga3 wrote
Old City's built on top of the cliff on the edge of the floodplain for the Delaware, though (as is pretty much everything from Front Street on west up and down the river).
all4whatnot t1_jaddvd3 wrote
So this is the answer. Most people don't know (because we're not 300 years old) but that's how the city originally looked along the waterfront. This project has been simply billed as "putting a roof on I-95" for a while, but there's still the matter of making a nice seamless connection between the city and the waterfront. Or else the project is a waste.
Leviathant t1_jaenj01 wrote
Yeah, every few blocks along Front street, there used to be stairs to the waterfront. There's only one remaining set between Vine and Callowhill Streets. Now there's a highway.
Callowhill's where the 'cliffs' kind of evened out, and that street sits 16 feet above sea level.
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