Portland’s Newest Green Street Stewards

We adopted a bioswale! We’re proud to support the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services’ Green Street Steward Program and help keep our rivers clean.

As engineers who incorporate green streets into our designs to manage stormwater and sewer infrastructure, it is important to participate in keeping these facilities working effectively. We understand that regular and appropriate inspection and maintenance of stormwater management facilities is critical to their continued function.

Getting our hands dirty also makes us better designers, since we see first-hand how these facilities perform in the field. As part of the program, we will regularly remove trash and maintain our adopted bioswale on SW 5th Avenue between Market and Main Street.

Green streets are important because they:

• Help improve the efficiency of piped conveyance systems
• Prevent sewer back-ups and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Willamette River
• Increase urban green space
• Improve air quality
• Replenish groundwater
• Reduce air temperature

Read more about the program here

Image features Murraysmith’s Matt Estep with a full bucket of trash and weeds after a lunch time clean up session