Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 8
Constructing Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway: excavations between M and P
Streets, 1934. (Washingtoniana Division, D.C. Public Library)
plant massings were broader and less complex. Not only were motorists
likely to be more concerned about getting to work on time than with com-
paring the views through their windshields with traditional landscape
paintings, but higher speeds made it impossible to linger over the complex
pictorial compositions favored by earlier designers. Limiting access from the
surrounding neighborhoods improved efficiency, but it made the parkway
function less as a local park and more as a green tunnel linking northwest
Washington and the central city. No longer called upon to provide illustra-
tions of moral, political, or aesthetic theories, “nature” was merely asked to
screen motorists from unsightly development and create a comforting
impression of encompassing greenery. Still, when the parkway was com-
pleted, it contained a bridle path, foot trails, neighborhood parks, and pic-
nic areas and proved popular as a multi-use linear park.
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