As a native of Boston, where the Big Dig transformed a large stretch of downtown highway into a pristine green space, I was interested to read about a similar project that recently finished in Madrid, Spain.
It’s the new Madrid Rio park. Anyone going to Madrid this year? You should check it out.
The park is a sprawling new green space where a highway once stood. It is six miles long, built on top of a network of underground tunnels (the new home for the highway). The park has 8,000 newly planted pine trees, a wading pool for toddlers, a plaza big enough to fit a few hundred thousand people, and a slew of paved paths and fountains. All in all, it sounds like a nice place to be. You can get all kinds of details here.
Madrid is a very green city. It has more trees and green space per resident than any other city in Europe, and its main train station has a plant nursery filled with around 500 species of plants, goldfish and turtles. They also have a street paved with special high-tech asphalt that removes pollution, and they’re laying down other streets made from recycled tires to cut down on noise pollution. It’s all very clever.
Good job, Madrid.
Photo: La Citta Vita via Flickr (CC)
Comments