Walnut Plaza has fully reopened, creating a central gathering space in one of the most popular places in Downtown Chattanooga.
This reconfigured street creates a central gathering space as one of the most popular places downtown. As the second built component of The Ramble Master Plan, the Walnut Street Plaza highlights design solutions that address the challenges of reconfiguring urban spaces to be more accommodating to the pedestrian user.
At the nexus of the Walnut Street Bridge and Holmberg Bridge landings is the most active pedestrian intersection in Chattanooga, and the design proposal by offering a shared street and a new urban plaza at the base of the two bridges.
Recalling the presence of the local material, the oval plaza incorporates Tennessee sandstone stairs, wall caps, and pavers, while custom wood and steel benches match the curves of the oval.
An important feature within the new plaza is The Ed Johnson Memorial. The Ed Johnson Memorial by artist Jerome Meadows is a permanent public site that strives to promote racial healing and reconciliation by acknowledging the lynching of Ed Johnson, honoring the courageous work of his attorneys, and recognizing the resulting U.S. Supreme Court case that established federal oversight of state-level civil rights issues. It is a welcoming, contemplative space adjacent to the Walnut Street Bridge—the site of the Ed Johnson lynching—where people of all backgrounds and cultures can come to learn, reflect, mourn and find inspiration.
The Walnut Plaza renovations were made possible by The City of Chattanooga, The Benwood Foundation and The Lyndhurst Foundation with support by River City Company, WMWA Landscape Architects, Chazen - A LaBella Company and The Lighting Practice.