Off-Ramps
New viaduct or no, I do like the idea of reducing the number of on- and off-ramps for I-5 downtown. There really are too many, it seems, for a major North-South thoroughfare like I-5. In what other city can you enter and exit the freeway every 3 or 4 city blocks?
(That's not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely curious)
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I agree, but only if done well. Yes, less on/off ramps means less merging. But the core problem is getting a large number of people from the freeway onto the city streets (and into parking garages) in the shortest amount of time. If we fail at this - say, using one exit with a stoplight - we end up with traffic that backs up onto the freeway (far, far slower than traffic of the merging type).
What we really need is easy-access high-volume parking away from the city center, with fast and frequent transit into the city. This will remove a high number of cars from downtown, and from the freeway going through downtown. This should coincide with removing street parking - shifting the city's parking garages from all-day use into hourly to replace the function of street parking.