More pressing needs than I-95 cap / Reader Response
Covering an interstate highway should be among the least-important projects.
Wrong time. Wrong place. Wrong use of money. Aside from extreme disruption and inconvenience that construction of a grass-covered park over I-95 in the Penn's Landing area will cause for area residents, commuters, visitors, and businesses, the $225 million it will cost could be of greater use for the increasing number of homeless people on city streets and transit stations, the $395 million needed to meet public-school teachers' salaries, or the drug and opioid epidemics.
Additionally, the 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers' Infrastructure Report Card indicates Pennsylvania (including the Philadelphia) earned some of the lowest grades in America:
Bridges, C+ — 4,500 of 23,000 bridges (19 percent) are structurally deficient; roads, D — 32 percent of public roads listed in poor condition; drinking Water, D — $14.2 billion needed over next 20 years to meet safe drinking standards.
Considering these needs, covering an interstate highway should be among the least-important projects.
— Andrew L. Warren, former district executive, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Langhorne, alwarren294@yahoo.com