Ohiopyle ‘Green Streets’ Ribbon Cutting

Curbs along parking areas direct stormwater runoff into bioswales, which throughout the project area have been planted with 1,321 perenials, 24 shubs and 48 trees.  The project beautifies the borough in the heart of Ohiopyle State Park while making parking more functional, managing stormwater run-off, reducing infiltration into sanitary sewer lines and filtering pollution before it reaches the Youghiogheny River.

Ohiopyle Green StreetsThe Pennsylvania Environmental Council will host a ribbon-cutting for the Ohiopyle Green Infrastructure Project at 11 a.m. today at the Train Station/Visitors Center in Ohiopyle.

Participants include Paul Marchetti, Executive Director of PennVEST; John Quigley, Secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; PEC Senior Vice President Davitt Woodwell; and Ohiopyle Mayor Mark McCarty.

PennVEST funded the $1.3 million non-point pollution-control project through the federal American Recovery and Investment Act with support from the state Department of Environmental Protection.  The project was administered by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council as a spin-off from PEC’s involvement with the Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape Initiative.  DCNR has been the driving force behind creating the CLI as a model program for fostering economic revitalization by linking communities to natural resources.

The work was done under a competitive contract awarded to Fairchance Construction of Fairchance.  It was designed by URS as part of the Joint Master Plan and Implementation Strategy funded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

The Ohiopyle Green Infrastructure Project was designed to alleviate stormwater inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewer system. The project included installation of 41 locally made rain barrels as well as construction of 15,976 square feet of pervious pavement with gravel pits or sumps creating underground stormwater storage within the main streets of Sherman, Sheridan and Lincoln Streets.  These sumps can store approximately 200,000 gallons of stormwater during heavy rains.

Additionally, the project installed 3,723 square feet of bioswales that collect runoff from other paved areas in which 1,321 perennials, 24 shrubs and 48 trees were planted.  The project is ADA compliant and, with all of its components, is described as a “Complete Streets” design, creating a beautiful and functional project that is a model for the Laurel Highlands and beyond.