Top: The original design Middle: A revised version Bottom: What was approved

Both Union Station and the just approved Silver Spring Transit Center are major multi-modal transportation depots. Both serve Metrorail and MARC, both are major terminals for both local and interstate bus routes, both will soon be served by new light rail lines, and both rank as the largest transportation centers in their respective localities.

But in calling the new Silver Spring depot a “Modern-Day Union Station”, WTOP is forgetting one very important tidbit of information: Whereas Union Station is a grand entry point to Washington and one of the most beautiful and distinguished buildings in a city chock-full of beautiful and distinguished buildings, the Silver Spring depot is an oversized parking ramp. As the images to the right illustrate, what started off as a legitimate modern take on the grand depot has been slowly gutted and is now little more than an above ground version of the long-used and never-enjoyed bus garage that already graces Bethesda.

The approved design may ultimately do the job of getting people where they’re going, but what should have been Silver Spring’s most majestic public space will instead be an eyesore.

How unfortunate.