Making a Splash at Potomac Yard

Planners of the new Potomac Yard Park, a 21-acre linear space on the eastern edge of the new Potomac Yard development, began testing one of the park’s main features on Thursday.

The interactive fountain will send jets of water into the air for youngsters and the young at heart to play in similar to fountains at Epcot Center near Orlando, Fla., or Landsdowne Resort in Leesburg.

The bubbler is designed by Jacksonville, Fla.-based Delta Fountains, which built fountains at the National September 11 Memorial in New York and the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington. 

The Potomac Yard Park fountain water will be treated just like that of a pool with a state-of-the-art cleaning system.

The fountain will have five different settings—two passive and three active. A few of the settings will mimic elements of railroad engines that traversed the yard for more than a century, said Zac Lette, Vice President of Land Planning and Design Associates, which is overseeing construction of the park.

The railroad accents will be prominent throughout the park, which is tentatively planned to open in November.

“Once the fence comes down, it’s open and we want to make sure it’s right,” Lette said.

The fountain will be flanked by two playgrounds—one directly to the north for children ages 2-5 and another directly to the south for children 5-12. The playgrounds and area around the fountain have also been outfitted with a series of plastic drums children and others can play (See the video above).

Hand-selected trees to shade these areas will be planted soon.

Connected by a lighted, 1.5-mile multi-use trail from Target to Braddock Road Metro station, the park will house its amenities in several “belvederes” or urban plazas located where the development’s streets dead-end into the rail tracks to the east. Each belvedere will contain a different amenity, from a stage to athletic courts.

Basketball courts recently went in near the Potomac Avenue pump house. Tennis and volleyball courts are scheduled to be installed in the area soon.

Past the Potomac Yard South Pond (which was recently outfitted with three constructed wetland islands) and the Monroe Avenue Bridge, four exercise stations will be built near where Bell Del Ray and the new Pulte townhomes and urban lofts are being constructed along Main Line Boulevard.  

The park will be open until 10 p.m. daily.