American Street Goes Green!

American Street Goes Green!. Modernizing a once-industrial corridor. , The challenge , For decades, American Street was crisscrossed with abandoned railroad tracks. These remnants of the corridor's industrial past created unsafe conditions for today's residents and visitors. The wide roadway collected pools of stormwater runoff and sent polluted water into our waterways during heavy storms., To solve these issues, the Philadelphia Water Department, Streets Department, municipal and local partners collaborated to modernize and beautify this two-mile streetscape., Greening with purpose , Spanning 17 blocks, the revitalized street is lined with dozens of new Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects that can collectively manage about 90 million gallons of stormwater annually., These upgrades are part of Green City, Clean Waters, Philadelphia's 25-year plan to improve the quality of our waterways and use GSI in our neighborhoods, GSI uses plants, trees and stone to filter and manage stormwater more efficiently., Safety first , The thoroughfare's new street lighting crosswalks, and elevated bike lanes make the area more accessible and safer for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and bus riders., The dilapidated train tracks were placed with a center median blossoming with native vegetation, which not only manages stormwater, but also provides habitat for pollinators and birds.