Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Project to Reduce Storm Water Impacts Gets Grant
The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $963,578 grant from the state’s Commonwealth Financing Authority’s Multimodal Transportation Fund for the South 21st Street Complete Green Street Project in the South Side.
This is a community-driven project that would transform South 21st Street into a green boulevard and gateway from the East Carson business district corridor to South Side Park to divert storm water, reported the city. The project also aims to improve pedestrian safety.
The proposed project will incorporate a complete streets approach, which is a policy introduced by Mayor William Peduto in a 2015 executive order. This order requires that all new city street design projects make it safer for all users to travel, as well including natural and green infrastructure features to address storm water runoff, erosion and combined sewers.
“My administration has been clear about its commitment to infrastructure investments and upgrades in Pennsylvania,” said Gov. Wolf in a press release regarding the approval of 166 new projects through the Multimodal Transportation Fund (MTF). “This funding benefits commonwealth residents throughout our 67 counties and those visiting the state by making roads, bridges, and other infrastructure safer, more reliable and accessible.”
The design would provide green infrastructure by installing pervious pavers and pervious parking to absorb storm water. The design also includes bioswale islands in the middle of the street and natural trees and grasses to capture storm water.
The larger project also calls for storm water storage within South Side Park, which would benefit the combined sewer system.
The project has been developed in partnership with the South Side community, city of Pittsburgh, ALCOSAN, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
