ABSTRACT
Roadway design can incorporate green infrastructure that reduces the impermeable footprint, improves the pedestrian experience, and provides ecological benefits, such as capturing stormwater runoff, cooling and filtering the air, and providing wildlife habitat. Some designs that can be implemented include bump-outs and curb extensions, street trees, infiltration trenches, vegetated swales, pervious pavement, planters, drainage wells, and rain gardens/bio-retention areas. Vegetated swales, called "bioswales", run parallel to roads or sidewalks and are designed to trap particulate pollutants, promote infiltration, and reduce stormwater runoff. The primary objective of low impact development (LID) is to manage stormwater runoff by preserving and/or replicating the natural, pre-development hydrologic processes of a site after development. In Portland, Oregon, curb extensions were installed as a pilot project at the corner of SE 12th Avenue and Clay Street. It would be ideal if the progress in Niagara Falls through the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway sparked proposals to cap, remove, and/or reduce the I-190 near Buffalo.
