The Green Streets Guide acts as a regional roadmap to redesigning streets and sidewalks into greener, more resilient spaces. The guide identifies effective green infrastructure best management practices (BMPs) like rain gardens, permeable pavement, curbside plantings, and street trees to transform our streets.
Currently, street designs and materials used throughout the Rockford Region contribute to flooding, street degradation, declining aesthetics, and can lead to safety concerns. Additionally, climate change is bringing more frequent and intense storms, furthering stress to the region’s infrastructure. The Green Streets Guide, aligned with the region’s Complete Street Design Guidelines, outlines sustainable design strategies to help the region become more resilient and safer for all transportation users.
Led by Region 1 Planning Council (R1), this initiative supports a vision of safer, more attractive streets that blend infrastructure with nature to combat the region’s growing concerns of flooding and build a vibrant, more sustainable future for the Rockford Region.
Green Streets incorporate sustainable design into streetscapes. They primarily serve the purpose to manage stormwater by incorporating vegetation (e.g., trees, shrubs) and green infrastructure best management practices (BMPs) to filter runoff and reduce flooding. These streets remove up to 90% of pollutants, replenish groundwater, and improve air quality. They also enhance neighborhood beauty, provide shade for pedestrians and cyclists, and calm traffic by narrowing the road's visual feel, encouraging slower speeds.
Green streets improve community quality of life by creating safer, more walkable spaces, while making urban areas more environmentally resilient and visually appealing.
Learn About Green Streets | Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Incorporating green street elements into roadway design supports the environment and can also boost community health and economic prosperity.
Green streets feature green infrastructure design elements such as bioretention, landscaping, street trees, and permeable pavements. These sustainable features aid in stormwater infiltration and retention.
The graphic below from the U.S. EPA highlights key green street features.
Learn About Green Streets | Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Planting trees and native vegetation, adding landscaped medians along streets, and decreasing the number of lanes can create more inviting spaces. Street trees increase sidewalk shade, allowing for businesses to have more inviting sitting areas or “parklets” for customers, which in turn allows for more socializing opportunities.
Designed for long-term sustainability, green streets can improve resilience by adapting to impacts of climate change. They help mitigate flooding, reduce the urban heat island effect, improve air quality, and support biodiversity, making the area more livable and resilient in the face of escalating climate impacts.
Incorporating trees and native plants helps improve air and water quality, increase sidewalk shade, calm traffic, and provide a physical barrier between the road and sidewalk users. Green streets support walking and biking as transportation modes that curate healthier lifestyles and enhance overall quality of life.
Green infrastructure mitigates the volume of stormwater and flooding impacts, which can reduce long-term infrastructure and repair costs. Green streets create more visually appealing neighborhoods, which can raise property values, increase traffic to local businesses, and support tourism. Additionally, constructing and maintaining green street elements can provide job opportunities.
By mimicking natural processes of absorption, filtration and infiltration, green street elements of bioretention and landscaped areas effectively manage stormwater. Green infrastructure best management practices (BMPs) used in green streets help reduce flooding and improve water quality.
Green streets support all forms of transportation. Increasing street trees and vegetation makes areas feel more walkable and bikeable, while maintaining the flow of traffic. Introducing traffic-calming measures such as street trees, rain gardens, chicanes, and median islands can help manage traffic speed and create safer streets for all users.
Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:
| Phone | 815-319-4180 |
|---|---|
| info@r1planning.org | |
| Website | r1planning.org |
