If you’ve ever wondered why old cities are so much more interesting places to visit than the suburbs, take a look at a project in downtown Richmond, the Plaza at Main Street Station.

First, some background: One of the uglier parts of downtown Richmond has been known as the “spaghetti works,” the spot where Interstate 95 and the Downtown Expressway converge, flyover ramps spilling in all directions, and interlace with three — count ’em, three — different train tracks. Lots of steel, lots of concrete girders. It’s an inhospitable place used mainly for parking cars.

But that liability is now becoming an asset in Shockoe Bottom, the old warehouse-turned-entertainment district adjacent to the downtown business district. I’ll let Michael Martz with the Times-Dispatch tell the story:

Interstate 95 arches above Richmond’s newest showpiece, a $3.3 million plaza that the city envisions as a hub for transit, tourism and recreation in a revitalized Shockoe Bottom.

When Richmond flips the switch at a ceremony tonight, soft blue light will bathe the interstate and the massive concrete piers that support it above The Plaza at Main Street Station. The plaza, with 90 coveted public parking spaces, transforms a crime-ridden abandoned field into a colonnade leading to one of the city’s most venerable landmarks — Main Street Station. …

The city has turned the area into a nexus for train passengers, tourist buses, taxis, hired limousines, and, soon, hikers and bikers from the new Capital Trail and the Canal Walk….

Tonight’s ceremony will focus on the rediscovered beauty of the area — from the “Sky Rider” sculpture that hangs from the interstate girders above the bluestone plaza to the uninterrupted view of Main Street Station itself.

In place of the suburb’s monoculture of shopping centers or single-family dwellings, the Richmond city center offers a rich mix of business, multi-unit residential and entertainment venues (though not much retail yet) with many striking views and vistas. Since I’ve been living in the ‘burbs for the past five years, I love visiting downtown and seeing all the change. The city delights with its array of varied and unexpected scenes. I can hardly wait to see the Plaza.

Also, it will be interesting to see how Main Street Station functions as an intermodal center for rail, buses, taxis, limos, bikers and pedestrians. Grandiose urban-revitalization projects in Richmond have often launched with high expectations only to fizzle. Will this time be different? With all the people moving into Shockoe Bottom and surrounding precincts, it just might be. There is energy downtown that didn’t exist 10 years ago.