Chambersburg plans to approve grant for first ‘green street’
(Chambersburg) — Chambersburg Borough Council is expected today to give officials the go-ahead to sign an agreement with the Chesapeake Bay Trust for a $115,269 grant that will reconstruct Rhodes Drive, a street connecting North Second and North Main streets beside the Coyle Free Library, and protect a popular neighboring trout stream in the process.
Borough officials say that when the project is complete, Rhodes Drive will be the first truly “green street” in town.
Part of the grant will go toward a storm water management project that will protect the Falling Spring, which runs beside Rhodes Drive, from the effects of runoff from the adjacent road.
Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill said once the road is reconstructed, a rain garden will run the length of the street and absorb all water runoff from the street. Rainwater will pass through new sidewalks made of material that allows water to pass through instead of running off, eliminating discharge of storm water into the stream.
Total cost of the project will be $315,000, but the borough will seek an a Multi-Modal Transportation Improvements Grant through the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority to cover the rest of the cost.
Rhodes Drive is a key emergency roadway, providing access for fire fighting equipment stationed at Chambersburg Fire Department headquarters to North Main street.
Ambulances and fire engines frequently travel the street, located directly across from fire department headquarters on North Second Street.
The Chesapeake Bay Trust grant was the largest of 17 awarded recently to projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed by the Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) Grant Initiative, a program administered by the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources.
The G3 program was created in 2011 to develop “green” storm water management techniques that make communities more livable, according to the Trust.
The Franklin County Conservation District has also pledged $50,000 from its Dirt, Gravel and Low Volume Road Program to the project. .
Stonehill said construction on the project will not begin until at least next year.
This article comes to us through a content-sharing partnership between WITF and theChambersburg Public Opinion.
Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your back. Each weekday morning, host Tim Lambert will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.
