Public-Space Transformations

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016, Jason D. Faulk posted a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasondelanedoubleyou/posts/10209013383668993
In the post, he cites an article in Business Insider titled "11 dramatic public-space transformations captured by Google Street View" which concludes that "cities across the world are becoming less car-oriented and more pedestrian friendly":
 http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-google-street-view-changes-2016-5

Jason Faulk states:

Most dramatic are the conversions of a street in Minneapolis, and the covering of the open-air recessed freeway in Dallas. All of which beg: if Lafayette, LA wants to spend $700 million to $1 billion on a 5 mile freeway connector, what other potentialities for urban space, that creates value for human beings on the ground, in private and public spaces are possible?‪#‎Y49Lafayette‬ indeed.‪#‎LafayetteConnector‬

What other possibilities for use of this space were considered instead of the urban freeway planned in this project?

This Facebook post generated interesting dialog through comments. I request that DOTD provide a response to this post and its associated comments.