One of my absolute favorite things about living in Emeryville is the Emeryville Greenway, a bicycle and pedestrian corridor that runs through Emeryville, from Oakland to Berkeley. You can catch my family and I walking with our little toddler and wild terrier mix, on a daily basis. It’s where we talk about how each other’s days went, teach our son what a leaf is, meet neighbors and make new friends!
The Emeryville Greenway was completed in 2007, designed by GLS Landscapes and Architecture as part of the North Hollis Urban Design Area by ROMA. GLS is responsible for other distinctive urban landscape projects, including: the Haas School of Business, the Exploratorium at Pier 15 and the Transbay Block 11A.
This project converted several blocks of an abandoned railroad section into a linear park, cushioned with bunchgrass, strawberry trees, bamboo and much more. In addition to the variety of plant life along the path, are some Emeryville condo and townhome communities including: City Limits, Liquid Sugar, Glashaus and Elevation 22.
There’s a concrete lane, set side-by-side with another lane made of decomposed granite. What I recently learned that I found very interesting is the Greenway was designed to also serve as a fire lane in an emergency. This makes a lot of sense to quickly access the dense area of condos and townhomes.
In 2012, the city of Emeryville received a grant to complete this project and extend the greenway which will include the area along Stanford Avenue, between Paladeau and Horton. The extension will also feature picnic and recreation areas, in addition to the walkway.
With the 5800 Hollis building complete a couple of years ago and the new Parc on Powell almost done, this update will really polish up that corner of Powell and Hollis – the essential entrance into our growing town.
