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“Kennedy Greened: A Streetscape Planned, Designed, and Now Built!” Presented at the 2020 International Low Impact Development Conference

This year’s International Low Impact Development (LID) Conference was hosted virtually on July 20th through 24th.  The LID Conference series is organized by members of the American Society of Civil Engineers – Environment and Water Resources Institute: Urban Water Resources Research Council and showcases the latest developments, technologies, and case studies related to LID and green infrastructure technology. This pre-recorded Poster Presentation “Kennedy Greened: A Streetscape Planned, Designed, and Now Built!” was presented by Nitsch Engineering’s Senior Project Manager, Nicole Holmes, PE, LEED AP BD+C along with the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority’s (DC Water) Senior Advisor – Green Infrastructure, Seth Charde, PLA, LEED AP, and Urban Rain Design, Inc.’s Principal, Kevin Robert Perry, FASLA, PLA.

As part of their efforts to use Green Infrastructure (GI) techniques to address Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) in the District, DC Water launched an international design competition in April 2013. The goal of the Green Infrastructure Challenge was to find innovative ways to capture stormwater before it could enter the combined sewer system, thereby reducing the need to construct additional storage tunnels. The recorded session details how the award-winning Kennedy Streetscape project met the goals of DC Water’s competition. The project was then designed, permitted, and constructed between 2015 and 2017 and currently serves as a showcase project for DC Water.

The one-block streetscape includes 33 uniquely inter-connected GI Best Management Practices (BMPs), including bioretention curb extensions, landscape infiltration gaps (a European technique that had not been used in a U.S. public space before this), recessed landscape planters, permeable pavers, and dry wells. Although the project was conceived as part of a larger strategy to use GI techniques to address CSOs, it became much more than a stormwater management project. The GI improvements have successfully transformed the streetscape into a more sustainable, resilient, and walkable place. The Kennedy Street Green Infrastructure Streetscape is also contributing to DC Water’s ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of widespread GI BMPs in the District. Watch the recorded session to learn more details about the incorporated GI BMPs and the long-term impacts of the streetscape, and read our detailed profile of the project here.

About the ASCE-EWRI Urban Water Resources Research Council

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) – Environment and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) established the Urban Water Resources Research Council with a goal to develop research in the field of urban hydrology for the advancement of engineering. The council is committed to the organization of research projects, cooperation with professional committees, interpretation of findings and research, and a dedication to making new information in the subject field available.