Sustainability is More Than an Added Benefit to Transportation Projects
Contact: Maria Wardoku, Senior Planner
Connecting the dots between multi-modal transportation and climate resilient planning and design makes cities more livable and adaptable. When thinking about projects holistically, cities can reduce the impact of extreme weather while simultaneously making it easier to walk and bike. Sustainability doesn’t have to be an added benefit, it can be the whole point.
At Alta, we’re thinking about this in every project in every community we touch. From the materials we use, to the data needed to clearly communicate environmental benefits, we’re building sustainability into projects from the beginning, and communities are seeing the results.
In part one of this two part series, we’re highlighting some of the work we do every day to adapt to climate change, using two projects in New York that required creativity and resourcefulness. We hope they offer some inspiration when thinking about your next project and how simple solutions can contribute to a future we all want to see.
Managing Water: Kingston, NY Hudson River Brickyard Trail
The Hudson River Brickyard Trail is a 1.9-mile section of the city’s Kingston Greenline Trail and New York’s Empire State Trail, and now part of the newly established Sojourner Truth State Park. It is one of the few sections of the Kingston Greenline trail that offers direct access to the Hudson River. When designing the trail, Alta’s team wanted to make sure the trail coexisted with the natural environment, which was a challenge due to flooded conditions along the proposed trail location and a large escarpment west of the trail that drained water from the highlands.
“We have a lot of water on the East Coast,” said Alta’s Kristie Di Cocco. “All that water had nowhere to go except where the proposed trail would be and then on to the Hudson River. But we were determined to make sustainable improvements even if it proved difficult.”
Before implementing any changes, the team performed a geotechnical analysis and made sure the standing water was not a result of high groundwater or potential vernal pools that the design team wasn’t aware of. They used stone-lined ditches and geotextile drainage fabric to slow the speed of water coming down from the mountain and help the water dissipate and ultimately infiltrate into the ground. Beyond water control, the trail was designed to meander through wetlands to protect the ecological benefits wetlands provide.
Green Infrastructure in a Constrained Corridor: New Paltz, NY Henry W Dubois Drive Green Infrastructure and Bike/Ped Project
The Town of New Paltz, NY secured a Transportation Alternative Program Grant to retrofit this roadway with a combined bike and pedestrian network. The Henry W Dubois corridor has rolling hills, poor soils, and a lot of water that leaves the roadway at a few key locations, so it was not naturally an ideal candidate for a green infrastructure project. Despite its obvious constraints, Alta found five locations to implement green infrastructure treatments. Using NYSDEC guidelines, the team was able to design sand filters and infiltration trenches to aid in the treatment and dissipation of water at these locations.
“Us being Alta, we don’t give up,” said Kristie Di Cocco. “We’re making it happen. It’s not easy because you are fighting the norms. We made something happen in a right-of-way constrained corridor.”
Alta had made a commitment to the community that, for every tree over 4” in diameter that was removed, a replacement tree would be provided. “We want to be good stewards of the environment,” said Di Cocco. “We’re also planting these trees to be good neighbors of the project. When Alta is done with the project we won’t be there, but the community will be, and we don’t want to leave the area in a condition that is worse than when we started.”
A total of 168 trees are being planted on the corridor, which provides greater than the 1:1 mitigation ratio committed by the design team in addition to the five green treatments identified. This is another example of a project that, despite challenges, was able to benefit from green infrastructure improvements due to a commitment from the community and determination from the project team.
Learn more about Alta’s Sustainability practice, and stay tuned for part two of this blog series coming later this summer as we continue to work with communities toward a more climate resilient future.
