Removing a motorway to bring back the original waterway [445]

[@bored1980]

I enjoyed the pace and gentle informative nature of this short documentary. It made a welcome change from the documentaries on the Discovery Channel, loaded with overly dramatic music and artificial tension.

[@MeatNinja]

I'm a millennial but I feel the same way. The dramatic music really gets on my nerves.

[@cjeam9199]

MeatNinja being a millennial probably makes you more likely to dislike that kind of editing

[@oJoJo]

I want an MLG dubstep montage edit of this now

[@hellelujahh]

And the repetition... And the terrible information density... Argh 🤦‍♂️ I grew up watching lots of them, but nowadays as an adult I can barely stand them.

[@rich_edwards79]

Absolutely. These days I find that you can learn far more about any given subject by spending ten minutes reading the Wiki than by watching an hour long Discovery or National Geographic documentary. The American style of documentary making, with 'recaps' every ten minutes to accommodate their endless advertisement breaks, has spread worldwide so that even formerly intelligent providers such as the BBC have been forced to adopt it. Great if you have the attention span of a gnat, not so good if you actually want to understand a topic.

[@joedavies50]

There's no shame in admitting, and correcting, past mistakes.

[@gentlebabarian]

I hope we do this soon with feminism. It had its run now it's time to stop the madness!

[@bizzarebanana3041]

it wasnnt a mistake, water is ugly

[@anselmbachmobil5064]

@Hans Zandt Your comment stands proof that Feminism still has ways to go

[@sexyalien806]

@@hirondelle8734 modern feminism isnt about equality

[@sexyalien806]

@@anselmbachmobil5064 modern feminism isnt about equality

[@snakefarm7174]

This is a wonderful story. I listened to every word and loved the comparison photos.

[@grahvis]

It has taken about 50 years to learn that more and wider roads simply create more traffic. Unfortunately it still hasn't sunk in in some places.

[@lilylute1248]

Explaining counter-intuitive systems to voters is reaaally difficult. So you can have the objectively right stance but if your voters don't understand your stance then you'll never stay in office long enough to implement it.

[@acceleratedsloth]

No! This is a complete misunderstanding of the situation. 50 years ago, they built a motorway around the historical centre (in the canal) so that cars could bypass it. The city grew in those 50 years. Now they built a motorway around the city and removed cars from the now enlarged city centre.

[@dorianleakey]

no, you used circular reasoning, no one misunderstood anything. Roads dont fix traffic, they never have, thats simply a fact proven by all examples everywhere. @@acceleratedsloth

[@BiomeSiege]

I used to live in Utrecht as a kid. The city center is beautiful, but as soon as you got to the motorway part, it was horrible looking. Gave you a feel of dread walking between the smog and concrete giants, what they did here is monumental for the city of Utrecht, it brings back life into the center.

[@PvdBMr]

As a Utrechter I can say that we are very happy this project was completed this month!

[@thedave7760]

I spent a few days there a couple of years ago, what a beautiful place. Holland is the best you are very lucky.

[@leifcian4288]

Presumably if it had been finished the whole town centre would have just filled the whole place up with cars constantly, sidewalks would have shrunk it would have been crowded and noisy and dangerous. Its a shame in a way all that time money and effort to do something major just change back again, but on principle it's it's good the complete motorway was prevented in the first place.

[@jmi5969]

@@leifcian4288 I suppose they never needed another freeway in the first place, that's why they could easily kill it... It's a small city of merely half a million residents, with plenty of peripheral freeways hugging the historic center. It's sad to see so much land wasted for a canal (as if there's not enough water...) instead of redevelopment, but it was their choice.

[@leifcian4288]

@@jmi5969 well its very subjective to say its wasted, its historical open space that provides pleasant aesthetics and breaks up the dense hustle bustle of the town centre. There could also be various activities going on around the canal periodically as well, in my city there is an old boat that seems to be permanently in the same place as restaurant...

[@PaoloRuffino]

I described this project in my Bachelor's thesis where I compared to a similar project in my hometown where they are doing exactly the opposite. Great to be able to witness the results of this amazing project.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

They forgot to report on the anguish of so many having to do business in Utrecht standing in line in their cars for so many hours because of this. I would be interested to know if jobs moved from the city center to elsewhere because of this project in Utrecht. I honestly do not know the answer or wether that would be good or bad. That is a political debate.

[@Robbedem]

Is there any follow-up regarding traffic? Did the removal of the short highway increase travel time or did it barely make a difference?

[@ZenosOsgorma]

Ronald de Rooij went there last year on holiday, even went down the canals plus the town centre no lack of shops or businesses it was booming busy.

[@jsnellink1990]

I think compared to the 1970's much of the daily motor traffic has been moved to a ring highway surrounding the city center more broadly (so not the highway you saw on this video, but a much bigger ring). The old city center of Utrecht today has become much less attractive to cars because of strict rules and better alternative roads going around it. Also underground parking facilities mean that tourists and day-travellers don't take their car into the city.

[@ixlnxs]

What is your hometown, Paolo? And what is the exact project they are, unfortunately, executing now?

[@Citiesinmotionplayer]

More like a moatorway, eh? Eh? ...I'll see myself out.

[@wanderingbox7971]

suites you sir...🤣

[@jonleonard538]

Kim Philipp Möllgaard - Better swim fast.

[@raphael5165]

😂😂😂

[@callumhardy5098]

A boataway.

[@callumhardy5098]

Very dry humour....... oh no wait.....

[@marin4311]

Again one of modernity's failure finally repaired. Many things went wrong in the 60's and 70's.

[@farouqomaro598]

Sadly many Southeast Asian and South Asian nations repeating the same mistake.

[@ralzvy]

Yep, boomers in the 60’s and 70’s didn’t care about historical nature or buildings, we’re here to fix it

[@goforgold7082]

MARIN come to my country in 2021 and I can show you a lot of things going wrong all over.

[@steelisthemeal]

Yeah the hippie movement and communism

[@gadbaddas4177]

Yes i agree...like dey replaced steam locomotives with diesel and ugly looking electric locomotives

[@tonyhawk94]

I'm French and i've been following what's going on in Utrecht, NL these last year and let me say this : They are leading the way to the urban renewal in Europe !! From this huge and amazing project : Leidsche Rijn to the reconstruction of these canals, they understand that good cities have less cars, more green, more bike, more gentle density, attachment to traditional architecture, etc. Congratulation, we must spread the word to all the european countries now.

[@matthewfarrell317]

So continuing their dying, got it. Dying cities.

[@tonyhawk94]

@@matthewfarrell317 The contrary.

[@robinstewart6510]

Yeah, we need sidewalks, stairs, and bicycle paths. To heck with the elderly, handicapped, and similar. They can stay at home, out of the way. Luckily, most Europeans now seem to agree.

[@someperson2965]

@@robinstewart6510 You are sick, did you know that?

[@robinstewart6510]

@@someperson2965 .. Lol. Well, if I'm sick, I'm certainly not alone. Europe is very unfriendly to those I listed.

[@zuron7]

Wow, so many negative comments on this. Does no one realise the effects of having exposed water. Reduces temperature of the area and reduces Urban Warming. People in higher latitudes might not realise it quickly, but living in a tropical country, I've seen the effects much harsher.

[@endievb]

Living in Utrecht and loving the return of the water.... Thanks for this great video-report in English, I'm sharing it with my friends abroad!!!

[@bri1085]

Aren't there mosquitoes in Utrecht?

[@DanDanDoe]

@@bri1085Jep, but one canal more won’t make a big impact in mosquito populations. They generally live where the water is still, whereas a body like this would always have some movement.

[@Kikiyayazengardens]

I witnessed every part of it, from the 60s onwards. And I am happy to see it change into what it is now.

[@weasel945]

It's impressive how you had footage to show the whole history!

[@Patrick94GSR]

Wow that is really amazing, in more than one way. Amazing that they can bring the canal back and make it likely better than it was before it was removed. But it's also amazing the amount of money, time and effort that was wasted from building the motorway in the first place, only to rip it back out again. It's a shame it was ever built in the first place.

[@BicycleDutch]

+Mario Hendriks that monumental building was indeed demolished for the shopping mall. Today we cannot imagine something like that to happen.

[@BicycleDutch]

+Peter Harris that is really shocking! I hadn't see destruction on that scale yet!

[@weeardguy]

And it is happening more and more. In the centre of Zaandam, a town not far from Amsterdam, the old canal that got filled in 1858, was opened back up again in 2011, allthough be it in a far more 'contemporary' style than it originally was. Even though the canal has been filled again, the name of the street still gives away a history from long ago, as the street still bears the name 'Filled Canal' (Gedempte Gracht) In Purmerend, my hometown, somewhat 18 km's above Amsterdam, plans to bring back the old canal the 'Where' at the place where now lies an important motorway, are dating back for the last 10 years. So far there has never been a decision that will bring the water back (and to be honest, I don't know if that would be a good idea) but there are always people that bring up this topic around election-time.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Well, the structure needed maintenance after fourty years, no doubt,. So not all money was wasted. And having good traffic in cities before the internet age was more important than it is now. Lots of things had to move physically then, whilst now it is done electronically. So I think the motorway served its purpose until it was worn. A city is not meant to be beautiful, remember! It has to fulfill social and economic functions. A city is a tool for survival of many, many people, not a museum.

[@Flyingdutchy33]

+Patrick94GSR "Wow that is really amazing, in more than one way." Ironically, almost all of Utrecht is one way only and getting around is a pain in the ***. Now, getting around doesn't just hurt there, it is nearly reaching my glands. The Netherlands is vastly overcrowded, we actually get traffic jams that are longer than the entire country on it's longest axis regulairly. And then they do dumb shit like this and most of you are "Wow, look at that!". Meanwhiles, they plunge the entire country's logistics down the toilet on an unprecedented scale. Our government actually thinks that having services proportionate to the amount of people that pay tax for it, is a bad idea. If you have 100 people driving a car and paying for a road, in the Netherlands when that becomes 200, and the revenue doubled, we will start actually using LESS of the revenue for that same road, and spend the rest on add campaigns to make us drive less.

[@csmaster65]

This channel is amazing. It gives me a sort of inspiration and hope for the future of our cities.

[@MegaSnow121]

I love stories like this one. The canal looks beautiful, and I imagine residents and visitors bare happy to see peaceful water flowing instead of hearing noise from a motorway.

[@HwoarangtheBoomerang]

It makes me so happy that the government actually undid something coarse to bring back beauty and the people's history. I love how nature will always bounce back. Always present, ever-waiting for humans to step aside and let it flow again; as if it were never stopped.

[@tommyvercetti7]

Utrecht is such a hidden gem; I went there for work and I loved the abundance of cycleways!

[@MikeBaxterABC]

Great job! .. I live in Ontario Canada and we have a comprehensive Canal system and lift locks for pleasure boats .. it's very expensive to maintain, but much funding is used from our dedicated "heritage Funds", in a similar manner we keep it because it's good to keep your heritage! :)

[@Maxime_K-G]

Yes, and nice things like that make cities more attractive to businesses and tourists creating additional revenue most people don't even think about.

[@MrHenkkkie]

WOW, I'm Dutch and I did not know this until now. Amazing video!!! Keep up the good work in 2016 and a happy, and educational year for everyone!

[@Dreamzzgirl]

Wow amazing. They literally got their waterway back. Great!

[@nagualdesign]

Yes, literally. Not figuratively or metaphorically! :-D

[@DJ-Daz]

Oh the irony. Utrecht built a motorway to "modernise the city". Now it's being removed to return to the old ways because the new doesn't work. I REALLY REALLY wish the UK would see things the same way as the Dutch.

[@geoffnottage8894]

Give it 10 years and there will be proposals to replace the canal with a ring road and the project will be conducted by the heirs to the present business, or their predecessors!

[@thetimelapseguy8]

​@@geoffnottage8894 No, I feel like cars are becoming increasingly disliked, the most likely outcome is the canal being replaced with a new 50 lane cycle ring-road

[@tmnvanderberg]

@@geoffnottage8894 There is 0% chance of that happening in Utrecht. You haven no idea what you're talking about.

[@dorianleakey]

ill bet you £50 that doesnt happen@@geoffnottage8894

[@ixlnxs]

I hope Antwerp will do the same with all those streets whose names end in Kaai, Rui, Gracht or Vliet, and which were docks or canals until they were filled up between 1870 and 1970.

[@geertminderhoud2641]

The same in the city Leiden where i lived. A lot of the mainstreets have the name gracht in it. There are talks going to dig up some. But the main problem is money.....

[@vaarikabatoon]

only the dutch can openly admit their mistakes and actually put effort into fixing them. any other country will deny that there is any fault with their car-dependent infrastructure. that's why we love the NL.

[@erikvandoorn1674]

In Utrecht it was cynically called "the motorway (or highway for the US) from nothing to nowhere".

[@csbalachandran]

Excellent copy! And the delivery very soothing! The voice and the enunciation of the narrator are very easy on the ear.

[@StephenButlerOne]

The 60s has a lot to answer for! My university, Bangor in Wales, is a gorgeous 1880s construction, with a hideous1960s concrete prefab extension holding the 'new' library. Every day for 4 Years I entered the building looking at this horific addition, just wondering how it was ever allowed. It would never happen today. The city looks so much better returned to its former self. It must of cost so much, I doubt in the UK if this type of project on such a scale would ever happen. Much easier to not spend the money, and live with the ugly useless road.

[@redtails]

It's called brutalism and it was a real building style. Arguably, no one really liked it.

[@StephenButlerOne]

redtails cool I never knew that. Though your slightly off, its official term is "brutalist architecture". Going to have to look it up. Thanks I have a feeling it's inspired by Hitlers Atlantic Wall.

[@bartvandewalle4253]

There are a few exceptions of brutalist buildings that are remarkable enough to be liked, but most is too, well, brutal for its surroundings and the people living there. But don't start bulldozing too fast, they thought the same thing of art nouveau in the past, it was seen as too expensive to maintain, and too kitschy. We can't grasp nowadays why our ancestors tore these beautiful buildings down...

[@redtails]

You can't argue about style. The difference with brutalism is that at the time it was built, no one liked it. and no one likes it still

[@bartvandewalle4253]

You might not agree with this list, but I found this item on BBC: www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160606-ten-beautiful-brutalist-buildings

[@goutam5299]

Love from India, amazing story ❤️

[@huibroggenkamp5405]

I'm glad they are rectifying the mistakes made during the automobile age. And I think we can all be happy the Dutch, or for that matter most of Europe didn't make the "suburb" mistake, where people are dependent (slave) on cars to get them anywhere.

[@LeafHuntress]

+Huib Roggenkamp The Netherlands has lots of buitenwijken (suburbs) but most of them where build with the bicycle in mind. One can get from the suburb to the centre of the city faster by bike than by car because of the direct bikepaths. Mark has several posts about this on his blog bicycledutch.wordpress.com/

[@ronaldderooij1774]

i have biked every day for one year from the suburb of Zoetermeer (north eastern side) to The Hague center (20 km from door to door). I can tell that it is not an option if you love life or your healthy old age. I was mostly in bed by 20.30h exhausted by 2 hours per day biking, even after training myself for a year. Not a life. Don't tell me to do it ever again. But I did it! EVERY DAY for a year as planned.

[@leecanvas]

+Ronald de Rooij Well done! Did you ever think about getting an electric bike?

[@max200023]

Did you know that in the country side that is daily live for tons of high school students going to school?

[@L3vinesNL]

20km total or just 1 way?

[@Mario-sy4nw]

Beautiful, I think the 21st century will see a greater balance between pedestrians and cars. NY fought this auto-centric nonsense in the 1950's and won but it spread to other cities like Chicago and LA where huge highways and automobiles broke up neighborhoods and ruined city life. Japan made the same mistake also in the 1960's when they were preparing for the Olympics. Entire neighborhoods were uprooted and the character of those parts of Tokyo changed forever.

[@reuireuiop0]

They had the very same plans for the Amsterdam canals. Luckily, the sixties rebel spirit put an end to that, and only the Wibaut - Weesperstraat axis was built straight thru old neighborhoods. Today a metro subway runs underneath, but the car lanes have been reduced in width, and see a lot less car traffic today !

[@alexrhind8355]

Right Glasgow. Now you've seen this, do something about the M8 at Charing Cross which has blasted a comparable 6-lane hole through to the Clyde.

[@eytan0127]

Great delivery of information, better than many TV documentaries

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Utrecht: Demolishes a motorway to return the city moat back to its place Every other city in the world that filled in their city moats with motorways: "We're gonna pretend we didn't see that."

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Actually, Utrecht is not the only city to have done it. Seoul did it as well. They returned a river where they once build a motorway over it (granted, they now have to pump massive amounts of water into the river to keep it flowing) and the strangest thing is that traffic in the city improved.

[@bmona7550]

@@Hans-gb4mv Boats can carry lots of cargo. The lack of huge trucks in the road most likely have something to do with it. That and ferry boats decongested the road

[@Hans-gb4mv]

@@bmona7550 those re not navigate able waters

[@jacobmoses3712]

@@Hans-gb4mv Navigable by what? Canal boats such as used in the UK only need 2 1/2 feet of water

[@rambling964]

London has paved over so many of their rivers that they aren't entirely sure where all of them _are_. There are lists of places you can hear them running underneath streets and buildings.

[@LucasGruner]

I was able to visit Utrecht this past summer and stayed in the church-turned-hotel visible on the right at 5:27. I had no idea it used to front a highway until a mechanic at the bicycle shop I was renting from told me. What an incredible change!

[@A7Xtreme2010]

Fantastic. would love to see something like this in a few Scottish cities. Great video to start the year off. :)

[@NeoDerGrose]

Nice, the Dutch know the way of the future. This makes the city so much nicer to live in.

[@Fred_the_1996]

Yes, a city of the future should rely on public transports and renewable energies.

[@NeoDerGrose]

@@Fred_the_1996 That and of course biking and walking.

[@Fred_the_1996]

@@NeoDerGrose yes

[@mourlyvold64]

@@Fred_the_1996 And local food production, like Paris did before the industrial revolution...

[@Shesae]

As an Utrecht resident, I'm loving the new canal! It's very central in the city, close to the station, and you'd always see the ugly motorway on your way to the city center. I remember at first when they started building the bridges etc I had no clue what they were doing, and was a little annoyed at all the construction work which made cycling difficult. But it's all worth it! It looks way more beautiful now; a way more pleasant view when you first enter the city..

[@christop_bader]

Now that is something fantastic good on you Utrecht

[@dont_give_a_flying_f]

It's great to see the modern world is getting rid of the 60s and 70s mistakes and starting to look at making the place nice and actually liveable.

[@trevordeane3940]

This is wonderful to see the canal return, I hope it is used well. The Dutch are such great civil engineers when it comes to waterways.

[@TwoFingeredMamma]

Yeah it's because most of Holland is below sea level. Some guy once put his finger in a hole in the sea wall where water was flowing through and he single handedly saved the country from disappearing below the ocean waves.

[@youppel]

Congratualations Utrecht. Seems to be a bold decision for everyone living outside the Netherlands. But in reality one should ask, how it was possible to sacrifice all other city demands to the demands of the car in the first place. People must have been blind.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

No, a city has to fulfill functions. It is a tool for human needs. It is not meant to be a museum unless you can make money for your citizens by being a museum (like Amsterdam).

[@NavidIsANoob]

That's a subjective perspective. IMHO, it's very important for a city to preserve its history.

[@ChrisCoombes]

Ronald de Rooij you are right the big question is what is the function of the city. I am happy the canal returned and I think it will benefit Utrecht in the medium to long term. It makes the place a city want to visit, inhabit and do business in.

[@kofola9145]

@@NavidIsANoob History like ethnic composition perhaps?

[@NavidIsANoob]

@@kofola9145 No. In fact, in the 4 years since I made that comment, I've changed my position and now agree with the first response. While preservation of architectural history is important and should be prioritized, it should come second to fullfilling the needs and functions for society.

[@Gossamer24]

This is great- it probably also helps the stormwater management in the city, something my county struggles with when they rerouted or dammed up all the streams it was built on in the early 1900s. Thank you for posting this!

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

A good example of the first world problems. Working on the things that do not need a fix, and then fixing what was broken by the previous fixing :-)

[@nickjeffrey8050]

This is a really nice video. Actually got me a bit emotional and I'm unsure why. Beautiful work

[@marcelmoulin3335]

Recreating the canal was a brilliant decision albeit costly. Canals are much more attractive than hideous, noisy, polluting motorways.

[@bmw803]

Canals are definitely nicer, but highways also serve a purpose transporting all the shit you buy in those city centers. I would have buried that highway, and only made it for trucks. Built some recreational parkland on top of it.

[@hendman4083]

@@bmw803 I doubt heavy cargo trucks are even allowed to enter the city center of Utrecht.

[@DanDanDoe]

⁠@@hendman4083Trucks are allowed, but I think only early in the morning. I used to work in a shop downtown and we’d get our cargo at like 6 am, and all motor vehicles were gone from the pedestrian areas by the time the shops opened.

[@silvery2850]

The beginning was boring but it ended with a smile. Excellent information.

[@jiainsf]

Sometimes you have to take a step back, see what went wrong, before going a step forward

[@TheKrishanuMukhoti]

Such a soothing documentary!

[@maxmccann5323]

I only read the title and knew this had to be in the Netherlands. I can’t think of any other country doing something like this

[@NickVenture1]

In Potsdam they unearthed parts of an ancient channel. And it is still ongoing. Step by step. Because some roads need to be redesigned. The channel is partly ready but not filled with water everywhere.

[@zabedaabbas4490]

Wonderful video and the water looks incredible in such a busy city

[@HROM1908]

Now that is what I call progress ! This video made my day. Thank you.

[@peacefulcyclist7944]

the most relaxing video on youtube, bravo!

[@GriffenDoesIt]

Something similar happened here in Savannah, Georgia, USA. We have a number of gorgeous squares built into the historic downtown, but one was demolished for a parking garage in the 1950s: yuck! In 2005, the garage was moved underground, and the square was restored. Man, nothing good happens when you build your city around the car!

[@comrademartinofrappuccino]

So with moving the car park underground, the mayorship have not made the city less car friendly, rather hide the uglyness and waste that is mass coverage car parking. It is a half good compremisise, turning the underground car park into a bike one that would be nicer and more human friendly

[@hikingwithmarty]

Have lived and studied in Utrecht for couple of years during start of this project. Nice to see this recap and the final finished image of the canal.

[@pauljmorton]

I don't really care about the historical arguments for preserving things, but the waterway is just objectively more aesthetically pleasing, better for community, and better for the mind.

[@marshalllaw4u]

Meh

[@DanDanDoe]

Yeah, the area was boring and loud. There was a patch of grass, but nobody would spend time there because all the cars made it uncomfortable. Now on a sunny day you’ll see tons of people on boats, or laying in the grass, having a picnic. Sure, maybe we have more traffic jams in the area during rush hour, but it’s such an improvement in every other way.

[@mikewilliams6025]

Excellent piece of history telling here. Thanks.

[@julieenslow5915]

I've always like the Dutch people - they seem so in control. They made a mistake? They fix it. Right now. How cool is that?

[@bratwurst19]

It's Beautiful, both ways, watching the soul stopping ability to turn a canal into a huge beautiful driveway with no sign of life of a previous waterways, and then turn it back.

[@captainmakai]

We need this in Bristol UK 😍

[@Andrewjg_89]

True. Same with other cities that needs a waterway and to have a motorway or bypass built outside of the city.

[@LacyJacy]

The thing that got me the Most is that ads were put under the drawbridge, anyone crossing will see it faced up, genius.

[@cola98765]

US: "MORE HIGHWAYS! WIDER ROADS!" NL: "You know what? We don't need that road... What was that? Historically a moat was there? A new canal it is then."

[@gabba1gabba1hey]

the US has states larger than the entire country. of course it needs more highways

[@cola98765]

@@gabba1gabba1hey But you don't need main roads that passes through the city itself AND has driveways like if it's a small street.

[@gabba1gabba1hey]

@@cola98765 the majority of our freight is delivered by trucks and our country is huge and spread out, we absolutely need more highways and wider roads.

[@FFFFFFF-FFFFFFFUUUUCCCC]

Different country, different situation, and different needs.

[@HyenaBlank]

@@gabba1gabba1hey If it wasn't for restrictive zoning laws forcing nearly all of the country to aggressively fracture homes and business miles apart, we wouldn't need so many wide roads just to go grocery shopping.

[@detectiveboink6207]

I live next to this canal. I didn't know the history of this canal until now!

[@DannyFarrington]

That was really interesting! I love seeing city transformations

[@theartcarnival127]

A bold decision. The best one. Every nature lover can see a smile on mother nature's face :) How many of you are able see it ?

[@plasticbucket]

This almost hapenned in Dublin back in the sixties but a campaign to keep the waterway succeeded . The end result a beautiful waterway ,mature trees ,fish , songbirds and happy people . B

[@treylennon4858]

Such a refreshing story! Hoping for projects like this in America ☺️

[@rustinpieces]

I'm Dutch and didn't even know this! :-)

[@grahamjpjones]

There were many crazy ideas put into place in the 60s and 70s, so glad to see some are removed and old features restored

[@rich_edwards79]

I love this. Righting the wrongs of the past. Boston in Massachusetts did this too; their 'big dig' project was expensive but allowed a huge highway that severed the city from its waterfront to be routed through a huge tunnel allowing the space it had occupied to become parkland. If only the UK could be so forward thinking in admitting that its 60s/70s attempt to prioritise the car was a catastrophic failure, and start bulldozing the decaying concrete ring roads, flyovers and car parks that still blight so many of our historic cities.

[@39FORTYWATER]

I'd feel great and happy that the water canal is on my city and looks good.

[@kwaobenti]

Planners in the 60s really had a f*cked up idea of progress!

[@reichtangleanschluss509]

Planners back then be like: Remove everything old and beautiful and replace it with concrete and automobiles. It's truly sad that many buildings in non-communist European countries that were able to survive WW2 were demolished because idiocy of copying everything USA was doing back then.

[@aidenkornic9464]

@@reichtangleanschluss509 Well the USSR (not really Communist), completely destroyed the historical significance of Königsburg (Kaliningrad) by destroying lots of the old sites such as the Castle.

[@reichtangleanschluss509]

​@@aidenkornic9464 Königsberg sadly wasn't only one to suffer. Viipuri (Vyborg) for example has many buildings that were either demolished, or left without proper maintache, leaving the city look like what is was back in 1945.

[@RMJ1984]

We do to as well. You can be that in 30-50-100 years they will look back at how stupid we were. Imagine wasting valuable land for parking lots?, it almost seems like some sort of madness. Or the fact that we seem unable to live in harmony with nature. Why arent all rooftops full of flowers, bushes and trees?.

[@dgorospe]

You're looking at that with 100% hindsight though. If traffic was as bad as the video suggests, then options to alleviate it would be limited. They may honestly have gone with what they felt was the best option at the time, given the trends. 50-60 years from now, this change could be reverted. It's just too hard to predict.

[@mrwilsonhousegroove9080]

this is one of the best documentary i ever seen..👍👍👍

[@cymen1]

Amterdam is called the worlds smallest metropolis. But Utrecht should have a title of it's own for this, this can only happen at world class city's.

[@ixlnxs]

I'm sure the good people of Amsterdam will be delighted to call Utrecht the world's smallest provincial city. *smirks*

[@Labroidas]

It made me tear up that the people watching the constructions so diligently were mostly old people, who probably remember the original canal from when they were young :'(

[@ItsIdaho]

I love it.. Seems like mistakes were made and the tried to fix them, Well job!

[@truppenterror2836]

The difference is huge. In a positive sense, of course. And the cityscape has improved a lot as a result.

[@skiingcrocodile2153]

This video was basically humans going "oops my bad" over 60 years

[@akinigiri]

This is a triumphant story of embracing the mistake and correcting it. I wish Japan would learn from this. We have so many mistakes done in the name of progress in the 50s-80s ... The biggest example is Nihon-bashi ... a historic bridge and cultural center of Tokyo has a highway on top of it... the cost of moving is is immense but we should fix it.

[@cameroncalzone8860]

i’ll never understand why some people are so obsessed with destroying everything for the sake of cars

[@googleanti-speech7618]

Because society works on time and money. If you spend all your time commuting rather than working, then society comes to a halt, and you starve to death. Long story made short. You're welcome.

[@cameroncalzone8860]

@@googleanti-speech7618 so people will starve to death if they don’t pave over everything with highways? Lol.

[@googleanti-speech7618]

​@@cameroncalzone8860 Literally. You act surprised?! What do you think we fly the cow by plane? or how about the fuel to the tractors, or how about the tractors themselves, or how about the crops, or how about the orchards. Without roads you just simply won't have these things. Everything would be locally grown and produced only. Guess what......Cities don't have farms n crops in the middle of them. How dense are you?

[@cameroncalzone8860]

@@googleanti-speech7618 other countries manage just fine

[@googleanti-speech7618]

@@cameroncalzone8860 What other countries? and to whom do you compare?

[@alzeNL]

I remember visiting my friend in Utrecht in the early 2010's - it was an absolute building site - lovely to see it looking so good now.

[@ferrarigirl666]

Respect nederland! T vraagt ballen om deze beslissing te maken! Jullie deden t beste wat mogelijk was!

[@arnomrnym6329]

Great work! 👍😎Such project should happen more often.

[@Ninyfive]

USA: "Let's build more highways!" The Netherlands: "Oi no way" *Ctrl+Z moment*

[@NorthLithe]

and boy is it beautiful and cosy right now

[@OriginalPuro]

This is real progress. Can't believe anyone in their right mind would simply remove a canal to make way for cars.

[@Brozius2512]

They actually did that in Amsterdam with a few canals but they now turn the roads in canals again cause in the city center there are no cars allowed.

[@qqleq]

You have to see it within the time. At the time they thought of thiis, everything was about modernization. The solutions we have now (for instance in Utrecht, just hadn't been thought of yet. Also: the old buildings were, back then, much more "old junk" then now, where everything is renovated. The 60's were the times where anything seemed possible and we hadn't learned the value of old stuff yet. It is too bad that it destroyed so much, but it just could not have been any other way. Nowadays we know how to combine the old and the modern. We just didn;t know back than. ("We" - I was one when they decided to mute the canal...)

[@ronaldderooij1774]

A city is a tool for man's aspirations and needs. It is not a museum. Lots of things needed to be done physically back then, that can now be done electronically. Hence more traffic in the city back then, hence change the city to accomodate that. Not museums, remember, unless you can make so much money by being a museum (like Amsterdam).

[@abark]

How is reverting to medieval technology progress?

[@Labroidas]

This is amazing for the quality of life for the citizens, it makes everybody's days brighter, but I have to say, traffic control in city centers is not easy, I understand why they chose to do what they did in the 1970s. It's really, really hard to deal with the growing pressure of more and more cars on the roads, and at the time it was hard to foresee how much worse the problem was going to get. At that time, everything got bigger, faster, and crazier every year. Personnal transport was the future back then. Building huge motorways was seen as a way of future-proofing your city and your society.

[@andrewaway]

The Dutch are so fantastic.

[@matthewlui1004]

Thank you for the algorithm to recommend such a great video.

[@zackko6884]

wow its so awsome.. As malaysian designer, i cant imagine how their do that..

[@Earth098]

This is superb!! Good to see places where things go in the right direction

[@Saartje05]

The houses at the canal are immediately worth twice as much.

[@jhcfight]

after being decreased to half the value

[@derkzweers4142]

There are no houses along the canal just office blocks

[@pokeepoof]

This is really cool, all i've ever seen is parks, grassy areas, tree covered areas paved over and turned into housing or roads right from my childhood taking away spots i would play leaving me with backstreets and dark alleys to play in. It's really nice to see these guys say no we want our trees and water back

[@nagualdesign]

(5:12) "The day the new canal was connected to the remaining old canal the water rose instantly to its final level." :-/ It must have been rather alarming to witness the laws of physics being broken like that, but well worth it in the end.

[@TomO-if7nh]

It looks so much better as a waterway. Good job!

[@ResmeN]

Now that's what I call a happy ending

[@josiahgiese7369]

This is the most optometrist I’ve felt in a long time. Well done to Utrecht

[@Michelle_Schu-blacka]

I've found the new country I want to live in. Cycle friendly, places to chill and weed on tap.

[@Hals]

Yes, Canada, yeah! All go to CANADA sshhhhh

[@Iseenitall]

A very well documented piece of history of this city. Nice job! Ps. and YT send me this now...

[@DanPopChannel]

What an achievement!

[@amsterdammancom]

The one strength the Dutch have over the USA is the ability to try things and then decide it didn't work and either reverse it or try something else. Living in Amsterdam since I was 42 - love it here! I remember as a kid in New Jersey when they did road work there was always a strike just after they closed one half of a bridge... Took forever to do anything then.