Crown Street Sustainable Streetscapes
Location
5900-6200 blocks of Crown St
Vancouver, BC
Canada
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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.
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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.
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This Post Was imported from the 'Greater Vancouver Green Guide', it's part of the 'Green Guide Portal' to the Green Building Brain
