ever been down sw 12th ave? sw 12th is the home of jakes famous crawfish, the old safeway, the jefferson theater, and PSU. if you follow 12th south, you actually have a route up into the southwest hills and some amazing views.
SW 12th avenue is also the first “Green street” in this fine city. imagine this - it rains in portland. yeh, go figure. well, when it rains more than what has been determined as “above average,” most of that rainwater ends up in the sewer and then overflows with the sewage into the willamette river. not good. this design takes that rain and instead of routing it to the sewer, it goes into a bioswale which naturally recycles it.
Portland is a leader in this type of design. New Seasons grocery uses it for the run-off from their roofs. There is a natural bioswale at Mississippi Commons in north. Bioswales are the shizzne.
So, well done to the city and all parties involved for winning the national award of honor from the American Society of Landscape Architects. anything to reduce the amount of runoff hitting the sewers is good news.

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