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Location
5900-6200 blocks of Crown St Vancouver, BC Canada
Content Type
Infrastructure
Budget
$1,500,000
Site/ Building area
485 metre-long section of Crown Street
Completion date
2005
Certifications & Awards
project team
Conceptual design:
City of Vancouver's Streets Design, Greenways, and Sewer & Drainage Design Branches
Detailed design:
Dillon Consulting Ltd.
Partners:
The City of Vancouver, Musqueam First Nation, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the University of British Columbia, Greater Vancouver Regional District, and local residents
Contractor:
Columbia Bitulithic Ltd.
Consultant:
Dillon Consulting Ltd.
Summary
Key Sustainability Features:
Alternative street design for natural stormwater management
Protecting salmon bearing streams
Use of recycled materials
Street calming to improve pedestrian environment
Crown Street represents an alternative approach to residential street design and stormwater management that succeeds in beautifying the street while protecting the salmon habitat of the nearby stream. The street is a narrow, meandering roadway with vegetated swales and retention ponds.
Prior to its redesign Crown Street was badly in need of repair. Since it had no curbs or gutters the street’s sediment and containments washed directly into Musqueam and Cutthroat Creeks whenever it rained, threatening two of the last salmon bearing streams in Vancouver. The site is boarded by 23 houses on the east and Musqueam Park to the west, which provided the city with some flexibility in creating a different kind of street design.
While standard road specifications require streets to have a width of 8.5 m, Crown Street is much narrower, measuring 6.7 m. 3.5 m of the street’s asphalt is sandwiched between 1 m concrete bands and 0.6 m of structurally reinforced grass. This structural grass is a plastic honeycombed-shaped material that is filled with soil and can be planted with grass. This edging treatment allows rainwater to infiltrate yet is strong enough to support cars. Crown Street’s structural grass also separates the road surface from the swales and sidewalk. Traffic has been calmed using techniques such as road narrowing, plantings, and a meandering road that breaks long sightlines.
The road is flanked with a network of broad, shallow, decorative swales planted with native plants, and retention ponds. These swales protect salmon-bearing streams during rain-induced volume surges by retaining rainwater until it filters naturally.
Recycled materials were incorporated into the design. Old concrete sidewalks were turned into pathways and granite curbs were used as weir drop structures into the swales.
The design process for Crown Street was more expensive and more intense than conventional practice. It involved over two and a half years of public consultation, with additional time needed to consider topography, zoning, right of way, soil types, climate, and the surrounding watershed.
Development costs were offset by the decision to use swales and retention ponds to manage stormwater rather than expensive storm sewers and catch basins.
Tours: Open to the public
This Post Was imported from the 'Greater Vancouver Green Guide', it's part of the 'Green Guide Portal' to the Green Building Brain
