Project Description:
The Townsend Median Project, completed in 2011, is a stormwater retrofit project that featured the landscape restoration of the existing Townsend Street median. The first phase included a redesign of the existing Townsend Street median and the planting of ten new trees along both sides of S. Townsend Street between E. Adams St. and McCarthy Ave.
The new median is designed to be below surface grade, allowing stormwater from both sides of S. Townsend Street to drain directly into the median, irrigate new vegetation, and eventually infiltrate. The median’s new design features combination plantings of native grasses in place of the existing pavement and concrete cobbles. Existing street trees within the median are preserved, while new street trees enhance the existing streetscape, fill vacant treepits, and ultimately increase tree canopy coverage. In addition, four new street trees are designed to be “stormwater trees,” with new curb stormwater inlets built into the existing curb to allow stormwater runoff to infiltrate the planting soils around the trees. The first phase of the Townsend Median project captures approximately 317,000 gallons of stormwater runoff per year.
View the project page for the second phase of the Townsend Median project.
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