{"id":11401,"date":"2015-06-30T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T01:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/?p=11401"},"modified":"2015-06-30T21:53:45","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T01:53:45","slug":"nature-reclaims-the-inner-loop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochestersubway.com\/topics\/2015\/06\/nature-reclaims-the-inner-loop\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature abhors a vacuum \u2013 as illustrated by the Inner Loop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"I<\/a>
\nThe following is a guest post submitted by Matthew Ehlers<\/a>.
\nSubmit your story today<\/a>.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

I noticed grass growing on the piles of dirt in the Inner Loop construction project today. It\u2019s as if nature can\u2019t wait for the filling in of the Inner Loop to complete before reclaiming the land…<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
\nThe dirt is filling in the holes Rochester created for itself in 1947 when it decided to build a giant concrete race track around the center of the city, no matter who was uprooted in the process. The future was booming and the city fathers at the time felt they needed to prepare for the mega-city Rochester would become by bowing down to the power of the mighty automobile \"external<\/a>. Much like the fabled streetcar destruction \"external<\/a> in Los Angeles in the 1930\u2019s to 1950\u2019s the Inner Loop confirmed Rochester\u2019s commitment to the car over the subway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Here\u2019s<\/a>
\nHere\u2019s an aerial view from the film, Rochester: A City of Quality \"external<\/a> (1963).<\/p>\n

\"Perhaps<\/a>
\nCut to today, where they are filling in the Inner Loop \"external<\/a> in a bold initiative to free the land from a useless strip of road. Perhaps Rochester is proving Mark Twain wrong when he said, \u201cBuy land, they are not making it anymore.\u201d <\/p>\n