Residents of Tacoma's Larchmont neighborhood and the Madison District have new reasons to take pride in their streets, and it's not just because the sidewalks are wider. Beyond providing safer pedestrian paths, the City of Tacoma has rolled out an ecological double whammy: combating water pollution with a twist of public art. As seen in a recent post by Washington's Department of Ecology, the city completed water quality projects to the tune of over $6 million each, aimed at rejuvenating Flett Creek and Chambers Creek — both critical waterways feeding into the Puget Sound.
Before the improvements, these areas were battling with a couple of nuisances. Eroded streets and non-existent sidewalks made for a less-than-ideal urban setting, compounded by stormwater that dumped a cocktail of pollutants right into habitats cradling salmon during their summer spawn. Calling for stormwater management, and what's termed as Low Impact Development (LID), the solution came through permeable pavement, described in an Ecology Department article. These new streets don't just funnel rain to the drains but give it a direct line down into the earth, where layers of rock and soil filter the water naturally.
This 'street-smart' approach replaced segments of old pavement with a rock base beneath, topped with porous materials designed to give rainwater a fast lane down into the ground. In the Madison District, they gave this treatment to 15 blocks, while Larchmont got 18 blocks revamped. Doubling down on neighborhood improvements, this innovative facelift was more than cosmetic, as it included 300 new street trees and necessary upgrades beneath the surface to existing utilities. Jordan Ennis, the City of Tacoma engineer behind the Larchmont project improvements, told the Ecology Department, "The overall goal was to deliver a project that imrpoved water quality and addressed historical flooding through the installation of permeable pavement, as well as provide broader improvements to the Larchmont neighborhood such as sitewalks, ADA ramps, cyclist accommodations, street trees, and underground utility upgrades."
