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more Cold War than Emerald City—but it does look leisure-park amenity path played against an efficient,
conveniently close to the airport. straight pedestrian and bike connection. This creates an
In all the U.S. and around the world, in fact, few ever-shifting overall width. The narrow point is over the
urban nodes are closer to a major airport terminal than parkway (to reduce visual impact); wider points open to
Crystal City—less than ¼ mile at the closest point. Yet Crystal City and create a raised quasi-woodland park
few of those arriving passengers will set foot in Crystal over the existing woodland vale along the Mount Vernon
City. This is partly because of the area’s unfriendly urban Trail. Near the western end of the new bridge would be
design and architecture, but another factor is the barriers direct connections to the Crystal City Metro and VRE
presented by the airport access road, the parkway, the commuter rail stations. At the eastern end, the bridge
Mount Vernon Trail, and railroad tracks. Pedestrian would align with the existing airport parking garage and
connection is tricky and circuitous, so typically a one-stop Metro bridges, connecting directly to the terminal. The
Metro ride, tedious van shuttle, or disproportionately leisure part of the bridge includes areas for viewing the
expensive cab ride is necessary. airfield at DCA, as well as shady nooks suitable for
The CC2DCA (“Crystal City to DCA”) bridge is an reading or intimate conversations.
effort to capitalize on the proximity, not only to help fill The CC2DCA bridge plan is at this point called a
the hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space “feasibility study”—an indication of the uncertainty that
left empty by military realignment a decade ago, but also anything of this sort (much less the rich, layered vision
to create a public amenity. As envisioned by Skidmore, SOM has created) will ever be built. Still, great ideas have
Owings & Merrill LLP’s Washington office, CC2DCA is a way of taking on a life of their own—just look across
both an efficient connector and an attraction unto itself, in the river at the staying power of the planned Eleventh
a sense going a step further than precedents such as the Street Bridge Park. Especially if Crystal City were to win
Promenade Plantée in Paris, or New York’s High Line, the Amazon HQ2 lottery, the CC2DCA bridge-park
The dual purpose is embodied in the design’s parti,
might suddenly become a priority.
which are conceived largely as leisure attractions.
or central architectural concept, which has a curving,

View from the bridge.
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