New Canaan Advertiser, Thursday, May 12, 2011 Page 5A (http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/ncadvertiser/opinions/93722-ecoman–sidewalk-project-offers-sustainable-opportunities.html)
Sidewalk project offers ‘sustainable’ opportunities
Eco Man
by Richard M. Stowe
On Friday afternoon April 29th I participated in an East Coast Greenway ride from New Haven to Simsbury. At the end of the ride, a crowd of bicyclists gathered on the Simsbury Green. A tall, lanky man wearing a lycra jersey walked up to me and asked “What town are you from?” “New Canaan,” I responded. “You’re Richard Stowe!” he said. It turns out the cyclist, who lives in Simsbury, was Glenn Chalder of Planimetrics.
Mr. Chalder was very pleased to learn about the results of New Canaan’s April 27th sidewalk referendum, which was a clear mandate to extend sidewalks down Main Street and onto Old Norwalk Road. Our conversation turned to the issue of impervious surfaces in New Canaan – parking lot expansion in Waveny and sidewalk extensions. We agreed that increasing impervious surfaces is a problem. We talked about two possible solutions: pervious concrete and compacted stone dust. Mr. Chalder was quick to point out that in comparison to pervious concrete, the soles of pedestrians’ walking shoes may get sandy with a stone dust surface.
Granted impervious (water sheets off these surfaces) concrete and asphalt have excellent properties for human powered modes, which favor speed and coordination, such as rollerblading, skateboarding and bicycling.
But according to Bruce Dinney, Vernon, CT’s Parks & Recreation Department Director, a town with 10 miles of compacted stone dust trails, compacted stone dust is easier on your feet for walking and jogging. Strollers are regularly used on Vernon’s trails. Eric Weis, an official at the East Coast Greenway, concurs. Mr. Weis feels compacted stone dust has excellent walkability properties. For compacted stone dust to be used as a surfacing material on East Coast Greenway-designated trails, it must also be suitable for touring bicycles and wheelchairs – the surface must meet American with Disabilites (ADA) standards. Lindsey Martin at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy says that to meet these ADA standards, the crushed rock, limestone, or sandstone, must be no greater 3/8 of an inch in diameter. The application of compacted stone dust is 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick. Bruce Dinney says that the original compacted stone dust trail in Vernon (1995) was resurfaced with 1 1/2 inches of stone dust twelve years later.
Mark Paquette, who serves as Executive Director of the Windham Regional Council of Governments and on the East Coast Greenway Trail Council, has a 3 1/2 mile stone dust trail in Chaplain and a 2 mile trail in Willimantic. It turns out that stone dust costs about nine times less than asphalt and is simple to maintain.
Pervious concrete has unique properties; it differs from impervious concrete in that it has very little to no sand, or fine aggregate. The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Low Impact Development Center recognize the proper utilization of pervious concrete to be a Best Management Practice in controlling water pollution. Pervious Concrete is most often used in parking lots, sidewalks, driveways and residential, or lightly trafficked and streets (green highways). Pervious concrete provides first flush pollution control and stormwater management. If properly maintained, it dramatically reduces run-off relative to impervious concrete. It facilitates the recharge of local groundwater supplies and cleanses the water in the process.
Pervious concrete has a measurable advantage over impervious concrete in wintry conditions, especially melting conditions. Melting snow drains through the porous concrete, whereas melting snow on impervious concrete re-freezes, creating icy, unsafe conditions for winter walkers.
Jim Langlois, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Concrete Promotion Council, states the cost of “pervious concrete is absolutely competitive with the cost of impervious concrete” and with today’s price of oil “the initial costs of asphalt and pervious concrete are identical.” In August 2010 Governor Rell in co-ordination with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and United States Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan to construct 23,000 square feet of pervious concrete sidewalks at the State Capitol as part of the “Hartford Green Capitols Project.” Those pervious walkways were installed in October of 2010.
Let’s seize this opportunity to make New Canaan’s new sidewalk improvements on Main Street and Old Norwalk Road in a sustainable manner.
Richard Stowe is a member of the Connecticut Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board and founder and director of Rail*Trains*Ecology*Cycling. He may be reached at bike.rail.politics@gmail.com .
