[Vimeo]
This is a documentary on the Fouad Boutros highway, a motorway connecting Hekmeh in Achrafieh to Mar Mikhail and piercing through one of the city’s old neighborhoods. There are a lot of people working against the project, but I don’t think it’s as bad as they are making it look. In fact, I got a presentation a while back on the project that I will share soon with you.
I’m curious to see this presentation and hear your explanation as to how this project is not that bad. From what I’ve read, this project will require the demolition of 30 low rise buildings, many of which are from the Ottoman period and French mandate era. Furthermore, it will cut right through a heritage neighborhood, destroying 10,000 m2 of gardens and forever changing the urban fabric of the area. Longer term, the presence of the highway is expected to put pressure on the remaining buildings in the vicinity, prompting a redevelopment of the surrounding areas with the construction of additional highrises.
Without a doubt, Beirut needs major investments to improve its transportation infrastructure, but this should not come at the cost of the few remaining green spaces and heritage sites in the city. No matter what the perceived benefits of this project are, they are not worth the loss of our capital’s historical and architectural legacy – especially when there are many viable alternatives.
http://stopthehighway.wordpress.com/ has a lot of useful information about the project and its visual, urban and environmental impact. There’s also a proposal to develop a park instead, which is really the direction that we ought to be moving in. There’s no room left to breathe in Beirut!