Car-Free Streets

500 People Ate Dinner on a Freeway in Akron This Weekend

How's this for a creative reuse of outdated 20th century infrastructure? This weekend, 500 people in Akron, Ohio, sat down and had dinner together on the Innerbelt Freeway.

By Angie Schmitt

4:09 PM EDT on October 5, 2015

"500 Plates" brought together people from all over Akron to have a meal together on the to-be-closed "Innerbelt Freeway." Photo: Jason Segedy — “500 Plates” brought together people from all over Akron to have a meal together on the Innerbelt Freeway, which is not long for this world. Photo: Jason Segedy

How’s this for a creative reuse of outdated 20th century infrastructure? This weekend, 500 people in Akron, Ohio, sat down and had dinner together on the Innerbelt Freeway.

The event, dubbed “500 Plates,” brought together people from all over the city to talk about the future of the Innerbelt. The city is planning to decommission the lightly-used 1970s-era highway and redevelop the land — but exactly how is still under discussion.

Here are some of the ideas being floated:

https://twitter.com/tughrin/status/650743532966162432

The plates all had a recipe from a different Akronite on them. Everyone who came was invited to take home a plate with someone else’s recipe printed on it.

Next up, the organizers plan hold neighborhood-level discussions about the future of the Innerbelt.

This is awesome! #500Plates #Akron pic.twitter.com/kVFAvfRp4i
— Quin A. (@RealtorQuin) October 4, 2015

The project was envisioned by San Francisco artist Hunter Franks, with support from the Knight Foundation.

Angie Schmitt

Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.

Car-Free Streets | Highway Removal

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