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Urban Street Design Guide Index

Urban Street Design Guide
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Pervious Strips

Pervious Strips

Pervious strips are long, linear landscaped areas or linear areas of pervious pavement that capture and slow runoff. Depending on the underlying subsurface soil condition, pervious strips can provide some infiltration, but to a much lesser extent than bioswales.

Pervious strips offer an inexpensive initial step in urban stormwater management, but are unlikely to provide enough capacity for treatment of a street’s full water quality event.

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Native plants increase biodiversity, act as a pollinator habitat, and are well-adapted to the regional climate, increasing their chances for survival.

Critical

1 Integrate pervious strips with sidewalks, medians, curbs, and other features. Depending on the desired configuration, pervious strips may treat either sheet flow or more channelized flow. Pervious strips require long, continuous spaces to treat and filter pollutants.
2 As required, install a perforated pipe at the base of the facility to collect the treated runoff.
Use a maximum 2% gentle side slope to direct flow into the facility.
Protect adjacent subsurface infrastructure by maintaining a minimum clearance, installing waterproof liners as separation barriers, or by constructing a deep curb to separate the roadbed subgrade or parallel utility line from the facility.

Recommended

Where possible, cluster public furniture and utility appurtenances to maximize the contiguous linear space for pervious strips and minimize conflicts.
Design the volume and flow capacity based on the contributing watershed area and design storm runoff.
Infiltrate if underlying soil is of an appropriate type for infiltration and there are no conflicts with underlying utilities.
3 Reduce irrigation requirements of pervious strips by utilizing pervious pavements and native plants. Native landscaped areas are generally preferable because they will generate less runoff and can help mitigate the urban heat island effect. Native plants increase biodiversity, act as a pollinator habitat, and are well-adapted to the regional climate, increasing their chances for survival.

Optional

For additional runoff control on slopes exceeding 4%, consider the use of adjustable weirs, berms, or check dams, or modified catchbasins that feed into the bioswale or permeable system.
Long, linear spaces may be integrated with urban agriculture programs.

References

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Adapted from the Urban Street Design Guide, published by Island Press.

References

References for Pervious Strips: 8 found.