General Infrastructure

Lancaster, PA, has been doing this for awhile.

Porous pavement to help reduce runoff

By Nicole Dungca GLOBE STAFF NOVEMBER 21, 2014

The average city street collects a lot of pollutants over time: Dog poop. Leaked oil. Leaves.

When a storm hits, the microorganisms, phosphorus, and heavy metals from such debris make their way into the sewer system and often into the overflow that enters the Charles River.

City officials are hoping a solution to that problem lies in a small alleyway between West Canton and Holyoke streets in Boston’s South End.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Friday afternoon announced the completion of a new “porous alley” that absorbs storm water and filters it into the ground, rather than allowing it to make its way into the sewer system. The 508-square-foot alley was completed in September, but officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.

During the ceremony, Walsh called Public Alley 543 a forward-looking way of tackling the problem.

“This project’s important because it really is about the future of storm water and being able to capture storm water,” he said.

The innovative alley, developed with the Charles River Watershed Association and the Boston Groundwater Trust, is the city’s second “green alley.”

The first was constructed in 2013 by the Boston Architectural College, in between the college’s buildings on Boylston and Newbury streets in Back Bay, in conjunction with the city.

Construction of the alleys marks another step in efforts to boost the quality of water in the rivers that flow into the harbor of Boston. In 2012, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission had to pay a fine for violating the Clean Water Act and take measures to minimize pollutants going into the waters.

The porous surfaces also help keep ground water at optimal levels in places such as the South End, where many buildings were constructed on top of wood pilings. If exposed to open air, those pilings can rot, which could lead to a collapsed building.

The Public Alley 543 project received a $298,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, according to Pallavi Mande, the director of Blue Cities Initiative for the Charles River Watershed Association. Melina Schuler, a spokeswoman with the mayor’s office, said the city pitched in about $230,000.

The Charles River Watershed Association approached the city about constructing another green alley about a year ago, according to executive director Robert Zimmerman Jr.

Zimmerman said such innovations are essential to help preserve bodies of water like the Charles River, but for many years, it has been difficult to garner support for constructing the porous alleys.

“We’ve been paving things and building roads and stuff like that downtown for at least a century, and we get used to doing things in a certain manner, and to change that takes a while,” he said.

But Zimmerman said city officials were open to the proposal and willing to help foot the bill.

Thomas Ballastero, the director of the Stormwater Center at the University of New Hampshire, said such green infrastructure is becoming more common across the country. Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Baltimore are among the cities that have constructed alleyways with porous surfaces.

“There’s this whole paradigm shift from ‘rain and drain’ that has governed us,” said Ballastero, who helped with the Boston initiative.

Public Works Commissioner Michael Dennehy said the city will keep a close eye on the alley throughout the winter to see if they can use it as a “template” to replicate on a larger scale.

Officials are looking at “how to build something like this, and then looking at the performance of this alley,” he said. “How will it deteriorate over time?”

Since the alley was first constructed, the Charles River Watershed Association and the Boston Groundwater Trust have been monitoring groundwater levels at the site.

Christian Simonelli, the executive director of the Boston Groundwater Trust, said the groundwater has remained at optimal levels, which has kept the partners in the project optimistic.

“We’re really looking forward to the benefits of this, and we really hope it works,” he said.
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Boston Globe
 
Does anyone know if the Canton interchange project is still going to happen?

According to this site, work on phase 1 (the project is to be completed in 3 phases) was supposed to start this past Fall.

Looking over the work, seems like it's a smart and welcome move to widen 95 south to 4 full travel lanes from the 93 interchange until Neponsett Street.
 
I walked by the bridge last night and was wondering why it was closed. Ughhhhh.
 
datadyne007 said:
Good thing we repealed the gas tax indexing... -.-
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Right? Although that wouldn't have helped much this cycle anyway... inflation is so low I don't think it would have raised a ton of additional revenue.
 
We did get the gas tax hike, right? We just lost indexing?
 
fattony said:
We did get the gas tax hike, right? We just lost indexing?
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And to be fair, it was only automatic indexing (adj. to inflation) that was dropped. We just have to trust the legislature now to keep raising the gas tax themselves. Hopefully (sadly) as more bridges continue to be closed, they will do this.
 
Baker pledged not to sign any tax increases, right? So we'd have to rely on overrides for at least the next 4 years.
 
Matthew said:
Baker pledged not to sign any tax increases, right? So we'd have to rely on overrides for at least the next 4 years.
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It's a political statement from Baker to his base. He and the legislature are aware of what's going to have to be done with the gas tax. My guess is that Baker will veto tax hikes to keep his campaign promises, but will not fight the legislature on override, and that will be the basic understanding.
 
Matthew said:
Baker pledged not to sign any tax increases, right?
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Not true for his 2014 promises (was true for his 2010 run) says Boston Globe in Late October

His 2014 run staked out a more moderate anti-tax position: opposed to automatic gas tax hikes, and seemingly opposing new *kinds* of taxes and higher rates, but then not signing a "no new taxes" pledge.

Masslive said:
Baker said he opposes raising taxes or creating new taxes but has so far stopped short of signing a "no new taxes pledge" from the taxpayer advocacy group Citizens For Limited Taxation....[He] stopped short of saying whether he would oppose the implementation of new fees for government services.
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I read that, for example, to say he could hike car-licensing fees, VMT "fees", or could support gas tax as fee-for-service.
 
^ Even better. I fully expect Baker to be a very consensus building Governor. He knows where he is, and what what it requires to be governor of Massachusetts. Hopefully the hills that he chooses to die on are smart ones...
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
^ Even better. I fully expect Baker to be a very consensus building Governor. He knows where he is, and what what it requires to be governor of Massachusetts. Hopefully the hills that he chooses to die on are smart ones...
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Buses: the first task for the Baker administration is to clean-up the mess left behind by Deval

Right now there is a deficit in the current budget of between $350M and $500M -- still not fully defined -- until that type of misfeasance is clean-up -- don't expect any new spending and taxing

Just hoping that the bridge can last until a solution can be developed that will preserve its architectural features and allow for at least pedestrian use
 
You do realize that taxes don't create deficits, rather, they can help close deficits.

Not that I am proposing more taxes. We'll see what happens. Just pointing out the flaw in your logic.
 
whighlander said:
Buses: the first task for the Baker administration is to clean-up the mess left behind by Deval

Right now there is a deficit in the current budget of between $350M and $500M -- still not fully defined -- until that type of misfeasance is clean-up -- don't expect any new spending and taxing

Just hoping that the bridge can last until a solution can be developed that will preserve its architectural features and allow for at least pedestrian use
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I'm never really sure what you're responding to when you reply...
 
It's same the Deval bashing drivel that's become his go to.

Tbh, I don't give a shit about deficits when our Commonwealth is in the best condition it has been in 25+ years. All jobs lost in the recession were recovered. Employment is highest in 25 years. We lead the country again in education & students rank at the top of the world in math & science. More people are graduating than ever and drop out rates are at all time lows. We lead the country in energy efficiency and infrastructure has been rebuilt at accelerated rates. The only bump was healthcare where everyone that had MassHealth & Commonwealth Care had to re-apply on a broken website instead of automatically transferring. This has been fixed this year. That's minuscule compared to the overall state in which he is leaving the Commonwealth.

If we want progress, we have to be willing to pay what it actually costs to make progress.
 
The Blue Hill Ave corridor makes the most sense EXCEPT when the city was given money for it the locals flipped out and had it canceled because no one asked them. What-the-mother-fuck?! Enjoy your slow as local bus people, it's only your own fault. The 28X and Fairmount Line would have done wonders for Dorchester and Mattapan yet I guess local pols couldn't get their hands on the pork in a way they wanted so they shouted it down. No wonder nothing changes down that way.
 
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