Video: If A Park Covered The 101 Freeway In Downtown L.A.

People have been talking about capping the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles with a park since 2008. A new video shows just how incredible it would be if Los Angeles actually followed through.

Park 101—which would essentially hide the Freeway and provide a pleasant common space for pedestrians—was conceived in 2008. Seven years later and we still don't have that park, though detailed plans of the park existed in 2010. In 2013, Los Angeles City Council decided to partner with Friends of Park 101, a nonprofit, to look for funding from all levels to build the park, Curbed LA reports.

A new video courtesy of Breadtruck Films explains why Park 101 would be so cool while providing a visual representation of what it would look like.

"The current problem with downtown right now is that we've got the 101 Freeway that runs right through the middle of LA's most central core, creating a disconnect and a very hostile pedestrian environment," Stephen Nieto, a member of Park 101's design team, says in the video. "But what we want to do is really connect both sides and cover up that gap and make a nice public, open space."

Prior to the implementation of the freeway, Nieto said that people used to walk around more freely and the streets were more social. Now, however, the freeway cuts up downtown, separating what Nieto calls the Civic Core—Civic Center—from the Cultural Core—Chinatown and Union Station.

Park 101 would take advantage of the fact that the freeway is already lower than street level and put a "lid" over it. The park would be about 10 acres and over a half-mile in length. It could be populated with dog parks, art, food trucks, retail and even host events. Essentially, Nieto says, they'd be "creating space out of no space at all."

Meanwhile, Hollywood might be getting a park that caps the 101, too. Hollywood Central Park began the environmental review process in September, according to Curbed LA.