It’s such a good idea, for the urban core, it’s a wonder no one thought of it before.
Basket ballcourts a plenty, swings and slides and sandboxes, benches bushes, overhead lighting, security cameras, plus a skateboarders park, all covered against rain and sun.
Here in Canada we all love a good slag on Toronto, but sometimes they deserve props for stuff like this.
(But the photo of the fat mayor, at the top of the rope climb - priceless!) (They use a crane to get him up there?)
I’d like to see a sound barrier to cut down on the noise. Maybe it’s quieter when you’re not hearing everything picked up on mics, but it seemed pretty loud. If I had the choice (and I don’t know if those kids do) I’d sooner take my kid to a park that where they didn’t have to listen to the sound of highway traffic, horns, sirens and the occasional accident or screeching tires. Not in the ‘I’m worried about traumatizing’ them way, just in the ‘there’s more pleasant places to be’ way. But, like I said, I don’t know if better options exist in that area.
Sound barriers on the sides of the overpasses would probably help with the noise as well as the road debris that’s going to fall off the side from time to time.
Down at the Washington, DC Beltway they oversized the overpass at Washington Street in Alexandria, VA simply to give it a park like setting. There had been discussion about building an entire soccer field over the interstate but they decided that would cost too much for what you get out of it. Nevertheless, it’s a nice touch.