The 60 year-old Merritt Parkway is one of the nation's finest road building accomplishments, but over the years, heavy used and changing maintenance practices have diminished its parklike setting to a state where it needs widescale rehabilitation. A blueprint for this work, the Merritt Parkway Landscape Master Plan is the solid foundation for a comprehensive 15-year landscape program.

The master plan is founded on a multimedia field inventory supplemented by a study of land uses, examined in contextual and historical dimensions. From this survey, the report proposes clear, concise design principles and constructive solutions to landscaping problems, with consideration given to maintenance and budgetary costs.

As a consolidated, comprehensive report, this document will serve as the landscape architect's design palette and ensure that the citizens of Connecticut will again experience the Merritt Parkway at its best.

CREDITS...

• Connecticut Department of Transportation
• Milone & MacBroom, Inc.
• Johnson, Johnson & Roy, Inc.
• Johnson Land Design

JURY COMMENTS...

The designers of this master plan have shown the good judgment to be strategic and spare in their recommendations. The selective use of a broad range of landscape design techniques and specific interventions within the overall conceptual framework of the parkway occasionally bows to the realities of funding limitations. The ultimate result appears to be an implementable program that will yield benefits far in excess of its cost.