Green Infrastructure practices - traffic circles, native vegetation, chicanes, basins to catch stormwater, and rainwater harvesting features - provide examples of community building projects that reduce flooding and erosion problems while beautifying streets, calming and slowing traffic, and providing cooling shade. Our Tucson, Arizona, projects include:
>> Rincon Heights Neighborhood, 6th Street and Park Ave.
>> Campbell-Grant Neighborhood, Grant and Campbell
>> Samos Neighborhood, Grant and Mountain
Project Summaries
Rincon Heights Neighborhood, Summer 2008 - Summer 2010
Focus: Create a neighborhood-wide model for retrofitting an existing urban neighborhood with green infrastructure practices, to improve water quality and reduce flooding in High School Wash.
Features:
- Installed curb cuts and basins on 10 blocks to harvest stormwater from streets and parking lots, to grow native trees and shrubs
- Built 5000-sf pocket park to increase native habitat, provide urban green space and public recreation areas
- Conducted 3 cleanups of High School Wash
- Trained over 300 volunteers in green infrastructure methods, and stewardship of washes and urban watersheds (all green infrastructure sites and the pocket park were installed via public workshops)
- Created downloadable bike/walk tour of neighborhood green infrastructure sites
- (the project) won the Arizona Planning Association’s "Making Arizona Competitive For The 21st Century" award
Partners:
- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
- Rincon Heights Neighborhood Association
- City of Tucson Department of Transportation
- Tucson Clean and Beautiful/Trees for Tucson
- University of Arizona
Focus: Build community networks through rainwater harvesting efforts to address stormwater flooding problems.
Features:
- Bioretention features along curbless streets, to prevent stormwater from collecting in and flooding streets
- Two neighborhood-provided subsidies to individual homeowners for downspout disconnections
Partners:
- PRO Neighborhoods
- Campbell-Grant Neighborhood Association
- City of Tucson Department of Transportation
- Tucson Clean and Beautiful/Trees for Tucson
Samos Neighborhood, January 2010
Focus: Showcase right-of-way water harvesting features and promote native trees. Innovative use of experimental curb cut methods.
Features:
- Native trees provide shade and wildlife habitat throughout neighborhood
- Three types of curb cuts allow stormwater to flow away from streets into planted basins at Salpointe High School
Partners:
- Samos Neighborhood Association
- Tucson Ward III City Council Office
- Arizona State Forestry Division
- City of Tucson Department of Transportation
- Tucson Clean and Beautiful/Trees for Tucson