The Cermak/Blue Island Sustainable Streetscape

The Cermak / Blue Island Sustainable

Streetscape

Sustainable Streets for Chicagoland:

Multi-Modal, Multi-Functional,

and Totally Fabulous

Richard M. Daley, Mayor

City of Chicago

Janet L. Attarian, AIA, LEED, Project Director

Streetscape and Sustainable Design Program

Infrastructure and Cities

• Infrastructure in Poor

Condition

• Direct Effect on Behavior

• Large Capital Projects

with a Long Design Life

• 50% Population Threshold

Other

9%

Transportation

30% Buildings

and Other

Energy Uses

61%

Chicago Climate Action Plan: Adaptation and Mitigation

Source: CCAP

Sustainable Urban Design

• In addition, there are 839 acres of public park space and

53.4 miles of lake and river frontage.

• City governments are at the forefront of sustainable

design, and have an obligation to make cities livable

places where people want to live, work and play.

• Chicago Land Area = 144,593 ac

Public Right-of-Way (23%)

Complete Streets Policy

“The safety and convenience of all users of the transportation system including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, freight,

and motor vehicle drivers shall be accommodated and balanced in all types of transportation and development

projects and through all phases of a project so that even the most vulnerable – children, elderly, and persons with

disabilities – can travel safely within the public right of way.”

Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory

Council

Pedestrian Plan

Mayor Daley’s Safe Routes

Ambassadors

Pedestrian Crash Analysis

CMAQ School and Transit

Station Improvement projects

How Complete is

your Street?

•Stormwater Management

•Energy Efficiency

•Water Efficiency

•Alternative Transportation

•Recycling

•Urban Heat Island

•Education

•Beauty and Community

•Site Selection

•Air Quality

Green Alley Program

• 1,900 miles of public alleyways

in Chicago, the largest of any city

in the world.

• Total of 3,500 acres of

impermeable surface, the

equivalent area of over 5 Midway

Airports.

Total: 13,000 Alleys

• 20% Currently Unimproved

• 20% in Need of Repairs

Alley Summary

Green Alley Program

Green Alley Program

Development of Permeable

Asphalt and Concrete:

•Best Practices

•Material Testing

•Trial Batches

•Recycled Content- Slag/GTR

The Ground Tire Rubber

Solution:

•Approx 600 tires

recycled per alley

•Solved cohesion

problem

Green Alley Program – Installation Testing

Wider Implementation

Permeable Parkways Permeable Ward Yard

Permeable Pocket Parks

Wider Implementation

WPA Street Reconstruction – Permeable Asphalt Parking Lanes

Incorporation into Standard Streetscape Designs

Devon Avenue Streetscape Construction May 2009

Maxwell Street Permeable Market Plaza

Maxwell Street Permeable Market Plaza

EPA Primary Research Questions

•Runoff Volume and Rate

•Surface Water Quality

•Ground Water Quality

•Freeze/Thaw Performance

Market Plaza: Preliminary Monitoring Results

Sept 2008- Feb 2009

1/16/09 (temp in degrees)

Air: -7.0

Deep: 38.6

Middle: 34.1

Shallow: 33.4

Sustainable Streetscape Demonstration Project

The Cermak / Blue Island Streetscape

Existing Conditions- Cermak Road

Existing Conditions- Blue Island Avenue

Stormwater Management

• 100% diversion from the

combined sewer for a two year

storm event

1. Pervious pavements

2. Bioswales in bump-outs

3. New planter and street tree designs

4. Bioswale Parkways

Energy Efficiency

• 0% Light pollution into night sky

• Improve energy performance

above baseline streetscape

1. Utilize LED Pedestrian fixtures

2. White Light, Metal Halide

Technology

3. Pavement Reflectance /

Uniformity

Water Efficiency

• Limit use of potable water for

landscape irrigation

1. Recycle stormwater/roof water

for irrigation of planters or water

feature

Alternative Transportation

• Design facilities for pedestrians

and cyclists

• Improve access to public

transportation

• Provide additional bike parking

Recycling

• Recycle a minimum of 90%

construction waste

• Install total materials which contain

a minimum 10% recycled content

Urban Heat Island Reduction

• Increase pavement reflectance of

both the roadway and sidewalk

• Utilize Permeable pavements

• Increase tree canopy cover

• Increase landscaped surfaces

Education

•Partnerships with Benito Juarez

High School for science and

engineering curriculum

•Education Seminar

•Self-guided walking tour

brochure

•Informational kiosks/identifiers

with interpretive graphics

Beauty and Community

•Human Scale

•Education

•Significant elements of

life through all major

spaces of the project

•Celebrate culture,

history, spirit and place

•Western Stormwater

Plaza

•Benito Juarez Water

Feature

Site Selection

•The Chicago Nature and

Wildlife Plan

•Reuse of existing roadway

Acres Habitat

•1772 Forest/Woodland

•982 Aquatic

•535 Wetland

•290 Ripirian/Water Edge

•170 Prairie/Grassland

•36 Savanna

•22 Dune

•8 Naturalistic Planting

•921 Potential Habitat

Air Quality

•Construction Equipment Emissions

•Biodiesel/ Ultra Low Sulfur Fuels

•Anti-Idling Policies

•Local Materials: Sourcing 40% of

products within 500 Miles

•Dust Control

•Photocatalytic Cements

Source: OMP

Cermak/Blue Island Sustainable Streetscape



Synergies in Roadway Design


•Waste Management

•Air Quality

•Site Selection



•Water Management

•Water Efficiency


•Waste Management

•Air Quality

•Site Selection



•Water Management

•Water Efficiency

Integrated Infrastructure Design Example:

Permeable Pavers in Parking/Bike Lane

Bike/

Parking

Lane

High SRI

for Lighting

and UHI

Stormwater

Management

Photocatalytic

for Air Quality

•Reduced Pedestrian Crossing

Distances

•Opportunities for Landscaped

beautification

•Best management practice

•Discourage truck access to

residential blocks to the North


Side Street Pedestrian Bump-Outs

•Stormwater Management

•Pedestrian Buffer

•Landscaped beautification

•Urban Heat Island Reduction

•Water quality

•Reduction in potable water use


Parkway Bioswale

Changing Business as Usual

•Determining what city standards and requirements may

be in conflict with sustainable design concepts

•Working with city departments and sister agencies to

approve construction drawings

•Working with city departments and utilities to determine

unique maintenance responsibilities

•Outreach to the community in order to communicate

unique infrastructure design and maintenance

requirements

Monitoring

•Making the case for sustainable design

•Determining actual maintenance needs

•Continuous learning and improvement

•Critical link for turning pilots to programs

Green Alleys: Permeability, Albedo, Surface

Temperature, Strength

Maxwell Street Market Permeable Plaza:

Partnership with EPA to measure suitability of

stormwater BMPs on brownfield sites.

Sustainable Streetscape: Monitoring

Partnership with MWRD / Essroc

Local, National, and International Standards for Sustainable Infrastructure

•LEED ND as a starting

place

•Sustainable Site Initiative

•Green Streets “LEED for

Roads”

•Unique needs and potential

of Infrastructure

Need to be based on

Industry Standards

New Markets and Material Development:

Creating Innovation for the Environment

•Lead by Example

•Partner with the Private Sector

•Connect to the Community

•Design/Contractor/Owner Education

“..green is not about cutting back. It’s about creating a new cornucopia of

abundance for the next generation by inventing a whole new industry. It’s

about getting our best brains out of hedge funds and into innovations that

will not only give us the clean-power industrial assets to preserve our

American dream but also give us the technologies that billions of others

need to realize their own dreams without destroying the planet.” –Thomas

L. Friedman, The New York Times

Stimulating New Jobs with Green Infrastructure

For every 1.25 Billion spent…

Source: FHWA Jobs Decoder

New

Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Rehabilitation

Green

Infrastructure 51,200 jobs

47,000 jobs

43,200 jobs

Ending Business as Usual:

Responsibility for the Biosphere

Janet L. Attarian, AIA LEED | Project Director | [email protected]

Streetscape and Sustainable Design Program | 312-744-5900

The Cermak/Blue Island Sustainable Streetscape

Documents