A feature story in this week's issue of Time Magazine (above), "Street Smarts," highlights America's aging infrastructure crisis and Philadelphia's "smarter" approach:

"[Mayor] Nutter, who has pledged to turn Philadelphia into the greenest city in America, has a nice riff about treating water as a resource instead of a waste product and how it's fun to convert parking lots into parks. But he isn't some tie-dyed hippie tree hugger. He wouldn't be so excited about green infrastructure if he didn't think it could help him comply with the Clean Water Act for about $7 billion less than a giant tunnel would cost.

'It's revolutionary, but it's really a no-brainer,' Nutter says. 'We help the environment, and we don't have to waste all that money tearing up the city.'

What Nutter and his team are doing with porous basketball courts and man-made wetlands is a model — not just for wastewater projects, which the EPA expects to cost the U.S. nearly $400 billion by 2030, but also for the reconstruction of a cash-strapped country."

Of course, the Philadelphia Water Department's Green City, Clean Waters plan is a big part of the picture—even if it has helped to contribute to a sharp increase in rain barrel crimes throughout the city:

"Philadelphia had one green roof in 2006. Now it has more than 60. Rain gardens are sprouting in its playgrounds, and the city's first green street absorbed 6 in. of rain during Irene. Water commissioner Howard Neukrug proudly reports that one of the city's 2,000 residential rain barrels was recently stolen. 'We're coming of age!' he jokes. Philadelphia, he says, will look very different in a few decades. 'You can already see how these beautiful new green sites are slowly changing the city,' he says."

A portion of the porous concrete sidewalk in front of East Germantown's Waterview Recreation Center was replaced yesterday; the surface of the sidewalk was spalling, or breaking apart. The porous pavement at Waterview Rec Center is designed to absorb stormwater from the walkways and surrounding land and infiltrate it through a gravel bed (shown in the photo above) beneath the sidewalk surface.

Why was the sidewalk breaking apart in the first place? PWD's materials testing lab is currently analyzing specimens of the old concrete to determine the cause. One theory is that an excess amount of deicing salt was applied to an area of the sidewalk during the winter, damaging that portion of the concrete. (Deicing salts can have damaging effects on conventional concrete and asphalt as well—not just porous paving.)

Click here to learn more about porous paving. After the jump, a photo of the porous concrete surface being installed over the gravel infiltration bed.

Image: University City District

It's time to play Name That Public Space: The stretch of Market Street between 30th Street Station and the former Post Office building is about to be transformed from a parking lane into a 40-foot-wide sidewalk by Labor Day. Future phases of the project include tree planting, food kiosks, and tables and chairs with umbrellas (see rendering above). While this all sounds great, the University City District is trying to figure out what to call the new site. Go here to learn more about the project and submit your suggestion to UCD by September 30; the winner gets bragging rights and a $500 Amtrak gift certificate.

And while we're on the topic of open public spaces, PlanPhilly has an article about the pedestrian plazas we mentioned last week in the MOTU post:

"Essentially, Stober said, the city is looking for community groups to come up with a plan to put down some sort of barrier—like boulders—between pedestrians and traffic, as well as things like planters to enliven the space. Applicants will also have to provide for maintenance of their plazas, as well as general liability insurance—so they'll need to be incorporated to bid for a slot.

In return, the city will paint the plazas green to distinguish them for the surrounding street and will also tap into $400,000 in Streets and Commerce department operating funds that have been made budgeted for the project. Money can be used to buy maintenance equipment or furniture and other amenities."

 

The Big Green Map is now bigger, greener and ... mappier. The Philadelphia Water Department is working all around the city to implement green stormwater infrastructure such as porous paving, stormwater tree trenches and rain gardens, just to name a few. Check out our interactive, up-to-date Big Green Map to find out where PWD has either completed construction on a project or has one in the design phase. Each of these projects is a tool in preventing runoff from overburdening Philadelphia's sewer system and keeping our rivers and streams clean by preventing combined sewer overflows.

In all, there are nearly 200 green infrastructure projects either completed or in design—be sure to zoom in on the map to see all the points appear in a given area, navigate the right-hand menu to view specific project types, and click on the green dots for more information on each project and a link to more information.