The Tysons Silver Line greenscape idea you’ve never heard of – Greater Greater Washington

Think about beginning on the McLean Metro station on Tysons’ japanese edge, then strolling or bicycling on a path stretching beneath the elevated rail line all the way in which to the Spring Hill station on the opposite aspect of city. In your manner you’d move by greenery, rain gardens, and public artwork, with focal factors centered beneath every of Tysons’ 4 stations.

That imaginative and prescient of a “Inexperienced Artery” was dreamed up in 2014 as a method to improve underutilized house beneath the Metro and create a way of place in rising Tysons. Thus far, it’s simply an thought. However it’s one which county officers say has potential.

“Whereas there has not been a lot motion on the idea, it stays on our radar and is acknowledged as one of many issues that would advance connectivity and placemaking in Tysons,” stated Anna Bentley, Fairfax County’s Parks Planning Supervisor.

The thought for a Inexperienced Artery got here out of a 2014 charette, or workshop, sponsored by the workplace of then-chair of the Board of Supervisors, Sharon Bulova. In response to the resulting report, about 30 individuals participated within the workshop, with backgrounds in panorama structure, city design and different design-related disciplines.

The charette report names an issue: whereas the Silver Line’s 2014 opening introduced much-needed transit to the area, its imposing concrete infrastructure, “creates a visible and practical divide,” particularly alongside adjoining high-speed, car-centric roads. The underutilized house beneath the elevated tracks “might be enhanced to create enticing and fascinating locations,” the report says.

The group dreamed up a pedestrian and/or bicycle path that might join every of the 4 stations and facilities equivalent to public artwork, leisure areas, city parks, and pop-up retail. Workshop members proposed design concepts for the areas round rail stations from green-covered trellises to artwork studios in previous rail vehicles. The trail would connect with different Tysons trails, making a community.

The workshop resulted in a listing of design rules for the world round and beneath the Silver Line, with a concentrate on placemaking, pedestrians and sustainable options.

These rules, and the Inexperienced Artery idea, are outlined within the Tysons Park System Concept Plan, which was up to date final in 2014. However for now, the concept of a pedestrian path alongside the Metro line is simply that: an thought.