Midtown Road Flooding Problem Gets Unique Solution

Credit: Aaron Volkening/Flickr

The next time you’re walking or driving in the vicinity of 5th and Juniper, you may notice some new greenery along the sidewalk, one that has some funny holes cut in the walls surrounding it.

The next time it rains in the vicinity of 5th and Juniper, you may not notice the all-too-common sight of the street becoming inundated with excess stormwater runoff, dumping more polluted water into the Chattahoochee River.

Thank the new planters.

The Midtown Alliance and Atlanta-based landscaping firm TSW have joined forces to install the first of what could become many “bioswales,” natural runoff filtration devices meant to send clean water back into the ground and away from the city’s sewer system.

“We view this project as a living experiment that reinforces our commitment to sustainability,” said Kevin Green, Midtown Alliance President and CEO in a June statement. “Through innovative infrastructure like the bioswale, we are doing our part to help the City of Atlanta provide clean water as we grow.”

A bioswale works like this: when it rains, excess stormwater will naturally flow into the trough-like depression known as a swale. The swales are designed to carry the first inrush of stormwater back into the ground, but not before the water undergoes extensive natural filtration through the soil, vegetation, and microbes in the trough.

The experimental program will use different designs and compositions to determine how well the bioswales remove stormwater from the streets, how much pollution is filtered out of the stormwater, and whether overflow drains built in one of the bioswales are needed in future designs, Atlanta InTown says.

The bioswales are one component of the $5.6 million Juniper Streetscape Plan which looks to renovate Juniper Street between 14th and Ponce de Leon, the Midtown Alliance’s website says. Other planned improvements include a southbound bicycle lane, wider sidewalks, and LED traffic lights.