Switchyard Park in Bloomington, Indiana Builds Community
A park with something for everyone, and a landscape design and custom site elements that invite gueststo linger, play, stretch, and relax. Not long after the last train left the station (literally) in 2004, the City of Bloomington, Ind., purchased 18 acres of abandoned railroad right-of-way and created the B Line Trail. The trail’s success made clear to city leaders the potential of the entire switchyard property. With support from the community, the property was purchased in 2009. Before it could be transformed into a focal point for the community, however, landscape architecture firm Rundell Ernstberger Associates (REA) had to remediate a host of environmental challenges at the site.“Our vision initially focused on ecological restoration,” says REA Principal Kevin Osburn. “We needed to restore wetlands, daylight streams that had been buried, remove hazardous mat
More