Green Infrastructure, Green Highways, and Green Streets will be the foundation for the rebuilding and expansion of our nation’s infrastructure and a key to our economic growth in the 21st Century.

Communities across the country are realizing the ‘green’ potential of their streets. Making our transportation system more sustainable involves many policies and practices that minimize environmental impact and create streets that are safe for everyone, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. Complete Streets are a natural complement to sustainability efforts, ensuring benefits for mobility, community, and the environment.

Many elements of street design, construction, and operation can work in favor of achieving both Complete Streets that work for all travelers and ‘green’ streets that serve environmental sustainability. Of particular concern are drainage and stormwater runoff issues too common in traditional streets. Optimal stormwater management looks beyond simply removing rainfall as quickly as possible, which risks negative environmental impacts associated with both stormwater quality and quantity, like polluted runoff, sedimentation, and bank erosion. Instead it focuses on efforts to retain and treat – or even eliminate – runoff at the source through cost-effective green infrastructure, improving water quality and complementing Complete Streets efforts.

The use of green infrastructure as a stormwater management strategy can help communities and other stakeholders effectively address some of our nation’s most pressing water quality concerns.