This weekend I took a trip to the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum to enjoy some great noodles and a little bit of 1950s atmosphere. On our evening walk toward the JR Shin Yokohama station, we encountered this very large circular pedestrian overpass which appeared to be recently built. The overpass connects pedestrians from the nearby office towers, hotels and housing to the busy train station, which includes platforms for subway, regular trains, and the shinkansen (bullet trains). I've posted on the many small pedestrian overpasses in Yokosuka before - but this example is of a completely larger scale. It's design was modern and sleek with polished metal and frosted glass. The overpass was covered, but was open on the sides enabling views of the station area, and the busy intersection below. There were elevator towers located on all four sides, but the vast majority of users climbed the stairs.
Many urbanists (including myself) usually desire pedestrians on the sidewalks at street level, keeping the city lively and calming traffic. However, in this case I can see that safety and pedestrian travel flow (access speed to the station) dictated the size and scale of the overpass. The large number of pedestrians that approach the station from this busy neighborhood was evident, even at 7PM on a Saturday evening. I'll try to get back to take some more pictures during the day - but here's a little video and some still shots. Also check it out on Google Maps.
