Greener road design, part 2, with Randall Arendt

Infiltration or conservation meadows are a less expensive and environmentally superior alternative to deep “bombcrater” basin designs. In this example from Doylestown Township in Bucks County, the side slopes are so gentle that the entire meadow can be mowed with large equipment once a year, saving the township money and manpower. It also provides habitat for birds, insects, bats, and other small mammals. Photo Courtesy Randall Arendt and Natural Lands Trust

Noted planner Randall Arendt has written the terrific article (PDF), "Creating Safer Neighborhoods Through Greener Road Design". It's part 2 of a two-part series and is very informative.

In the article Arendt writes "Conservation designers generally favor open drainage swales for stormwater control, rather than curbs and gutters...While curbs channel all stormwater into pipes and detention basins, vegetated swales allow part of the stormwater to infiltrate into the ground...

Stormwater management standards in many township ordinances are a bit antiquated, based on the detention basin or impact/bomb crater approach and focusing only on the rate of runoff, rather than on
the total volume of runoff after development. Townships should consider adopting a goal of zero increase in runoff volume after development, through various infiltration techniques...

Conservation design, which emphasizes compact lot sizes and significant open space, offers many opportunities to disperse stormwater over much broader areas, so that deep, engineered structures with steep sides and spillways are not needed." View the article (PDF)

View part 1 of the two-part series at my blog post last week.

Learn more about Randall Arendt. Visit LandChoices' second website at DownloadTheOrdinance.org to learn how to preserve your town's water quality, natural areas, wildlife and working farmland.