‘Destination: WEST MAIN’ exhibit
Envisions a streetcar system and mixed-use development for the West Main corridor

When: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Nov. 28. Where: Charlottesville Community Design Center on the Downtown Mall

Charlottesville’s West Main Street provides an important connection between two vital destinations — downtown and the University of Virginia. Over the past several years, the West Main corridor has begun to evolve into a destination of its own, which raises several questions.

How will people get from downtown to the University? Where will people gather and socialize? Will downtown grow in a way that maintains Charlottesville’s treasured sense-of-place?

A U.Va.-based team of architects and planners (professors, students and professionals) have envisioned a West Main corridor that will become a destination in its own right, integrating downtown and U.Va. with a pedestrian-friendly streetcar system and mixed-use, compact development.

The exhibit explores the potential growth patterns along West Main Street through a series of site studies that portray several recognizable lots, redeveloped into compact, mixed-use, walkable places that enliven the city’s core.

The exhibit also examines how a modern streetcar system could shape development along this central corridor, and considers the successful streetcar project in Portland, Ore., and its potential relationship to the
Charlottesville Streetcar Initiative. The exhibit allows Charlottesville residents and leaders to see first hand how these alluring transit systems can provide access, reduce traffic and stimulate transit-oriented
development.

The exhibit features the collaborative urban design work of architecture professor Maurice Cox and urban planning professor Gary Okerlund among many others.

For more information, visit http://www. transportationchoice.org or call (434) 295-6554.