Pavement is often vilified by environmentalists as a pollution enabler, allowing rain water runoff to deposit old oil, fertilizer and other chemicals into local waterways. Ann Arbor is trying something different – permeable pavement.
The city plans to rebuild Sylvan Avenue with the new kind of pavement that absorbs rain water as if it was a dirt road. The small stretch of road (800 feet) is between Packard Road and White Street on the southern edge of the University of Michigan's student ghetto.
"We were going to resurface it this year but we discovered some drainage problems with it," says Nick Hutchinson, project engineer for the city of Ann Arbor.
Instead the city will tear out the old road next year, rebuild its base and then repave with the permeable pavement next spring/summer. Putting down the new base will allow for the absorbed rainwater to filter into the water table without causing any damage to the road, similar to what happens in freeze-thaw situations.
The city plans to spend about $300,000 for the project. That is more expensive than just slapping another layer of pavement on the old road bed, but cost competitive with rebuilding the whole stretch of street and using regular, non-permeable pavement.
"It's not much more expensive than that," Hutchinson says.
Source: Nick Hutchinson, project engineer for the city of Ann Arbor
Writer: Jon Zemke
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