The Vine Street Expressway is a partially depressed, partially elevated urban artery that runs through the heart of Center City Philadelphia.

Synterra, Ltd. provided site design, landscape development and construction documentation as part of a comprehensive impact mitigation plan for the expressway. The plan received the 1991 ASLA Merit Citation Award and the 1992 CEC/PA Grand Conceptor Award for Engineering Excellence.

Through extended community interaction, unique design solutions and contemporary building techniques, Synterra's design team created inviting, user-friendly urban plazas and open spaces along the expressway. The plan provides a rich urban experience for residents and visitors alike blending the hybrid, two-tier expressway into the cityscape.

Noise barriers and landscape treatments elegantly unify northern and southern downtown areas. Construction and implementation carefully considered the urban conditions, atmosphere, adjoining community issues and foreseen highway impacts so that the completed project would provide long term utility while becoming more beautiful as the landscaping matures.

Community Detail
Sound walls through the Chinatown district combine Philadelphia's Colonial style with calligraphic characters of the Chinese language to continue the community presence instead of dividing it.