The city of Orlando on Monday announced the next steps in the ambitious plan for the “Under-I” urban park to be built beneath I-4 bridge decks in downtown Orlando.
When completed, Under-I – or the “Bridge District” – will be a 9.75-acre multi-use community gathering space featuring “sports courts, performance spaces, play areas, vendor opportunities and local heritage experiences.”
As part of the I-4 Ultimate project, all of the interstate bridges through downtown Orlando will be fully rebuilt. This reconfigured and higher bridges will allow for new space underneath I-4 downtown – specifically, the area between West Washington Street and West Church Street. (See map below.)
Although many of us miss the extra parking that space used to provide, these new, “taller” spaces will gradually become Under-I urban parks in the downtown core.
“As downtown Orlando continues to grow, it’s important that the city provide diverse amenities that offer a high quality of life for all our residents and visitors,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in a press statement. “Once complete, this project will not only provide new authentic experiences and unique places, but also further unite our entire downtown core.”
This undertaking is still very much in the planning stages; city leaders only today sent out a Request for Qualification Statements (RQS) for interested parties to submit construction plans and designs.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to commence once I-4 Ultimate work is complete, which is supposed to happen in 2022.
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This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2020.