There may be hope for Tysons Corner yet, and this can only be good for all the communities surrounding it. Kudos are in order for the “Smart Growth” people working overtime to sway public opinion in the direction of a pedestrian-friendly, diverse-use model with lots of green space, cultural amenities and tall buildings full of residents and offices. They’re convincing when they argue that it doesn’t really matter if the Metro rail goes above or below ground, at least from the standpoint of crafting Tysons Corner in the manner of an old-fashioned downtown with lots of people walking around, lots of parks and things to do. An over-ground rail, they’ve shown, need not doom the area to ugly concrete and barriers to integration. If done right, woven into the fabric of buildings, roads and open space, its stations can become vital centers of activity and beneath its path a unifying open space can thrive.
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