Ballston Pilot Project
To walk through Ballston - the community at the western end of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor - is to experience a place with mixed messages for the pedestrian.
On the one hand, Ballston is a vibrant, exemplary mix of high-density residential, retail, hotel and office developments. While mostly "built out," Ballston continues to reinvent itself with ongoing redevelopment and public improvements-like the new rooftop community ice skating center and Washington Capitals' practice facility soon to will be constructed over the Ballston Public Parking Garage.
In many ways, it is easy to live or work in Ballston without owning a car: access to shopping, recreation and other necessities of daily life are a quick walk, bike, or Metro bus or train ride away. Sidewalks are, for the most part, wide and welcoming; shady neighborhood streets connect single-family residences and townhomes to the high-rise core; an extensive walking and biking trail is just at the edge of the sector. Because of it's pedestrian-friendliness, it is also home to a large community of citizens with disabilities.
Yet on the other hand, there is broad agreement that Ballston's pedestrian environment would benefit from a makeover of sorts. Because ideas about walkability have evolved a great deal in the 20+ years since Ballston development took off, a retrofit here - as a model of what also can happen in other parts of the County - was thought by a group of County staff and citizens to be a fine idea. Since WALKArlington actually grew out of a citizen request for a pedestrian-friendly, arts-enhanced back-roads alternative to the two major arteries that traverse Ballston, it also seemed appropriate to begin the long look at pedestrian issues in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor right here.
"Ballston Sector Central Area Pilot Study: Pedestrian Place-Making Improvements"
The County, in 2003, commissioned a study of the very heart of Ballston as seen through the lens of the pedestrian. Charles Zucker of Lee and Associates was the primary Urban Designer on the project. Early in 2004, the "Ballston Sector Central Area Pilot Study" was completed, and a .pdf version appears on this website as follows.
Introduction and Part 1: Background
"WALKArlington: Places for Walking in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor"
Predecessor to the Ballston Sector Central Area Pilot Study, this 2001 report by the team of urban designer Todd Bressi and public art consultant Jennifer McGregor laid the groundwork for efforts to improve the R-B Corridor pedestrian environment. With a focus on "providing a pedestrian environment without parallel in the (DC) metropolitan area," the study was a critical first step in bringing attention to the role of art and high-quality urban design in creating places where people want to walk.
