Car-centric suburban sprawl still dominates development at the edges of most American cities. Vehicular traffic in these urban regions accounts for most trips, not only for work but also for short local trips, such as running errands, shopping, or school drop-off. The networks that facilitate this circulation further separate moments of urbanity, which are becoming more specialized and isolated. Additionally, regional mobility corridors, dominated by highways, while catering to regional movement patterns, create local disconnection, fragmentation, and splintering. Yet, in many of these sprawling geographies, we can identify another breed of linear infrastructure with significant potential to serve as secondary mobility corridors. These include recreational trails, linear parks, utility transmission corridors, and other infrastructural spines that, if redesigned, could greatly reduce the load on regional networks while promoting more accessible, walkable, and connected urban environments.
By examining the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, a critical infrastructural corridor and converted rail line in Northern Virginia, this project asks: how can design reassess the potential of secondary mobility corridors at the edge of major urban areas as alternatives to car-centric networks? Through grounded research and design experimentation, the project aims to recenter the currently backgrounded linear park and to explore its potential as a regional mobility corridor. Through four phases (grounding, experimentation, synthesis, and output), supported by the SOM Foundation Research Prize, the project will catalyze new urban forms and novel spatial strategies and will build a collaborative platform for rethinking the future of mobility at the edge of major metropolitan areas.
