Philadelphia's
"Green Streets"
program:
We included the
city's former "Green Streets" program on our website, because it demonstrates the extremes the city can take when it
comes to stormwater runoff - Green Streets (permeable) vs Historic Streets
(NOT permeable). The "Green Streets" program used toxic materials
(petroleum-based permeable asphalt) and a flawed design. It included
several inches of clean stone as a foundation, which created a virtual
cistern under the street, then lined the stones on the sides with plastic
landfill liners that will eventually leak (GFredLee)
and flood the basements of adjacent buildings. It appears that the Green
Streets program (2014) has been halted, at least for neighborhood streets, although
toxic permeable asphalt continues to be used for parking lots, parks,
etc...
LINKS:
National Institute of Health (NIH) - Sept 2024: Ecotoxicological risk of asphalt pavements to aquatic animals associated with pollutant leaching