Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

In July 2012, a series of storms caused combined sanitary and storm sewer overflows in southeast Atlanta, making a flooded mess of streets and homes. The flooding occurred at the nexus of impervious pavement drained mostly by sewers overflowing with runoff and sewage from downtown Atlanta. The downstream recipients were the Peoplestown, Mechanicsville and Summerhill neighborhoods. They received sanitary sewage exacerbated by stormwater runoff from a 1,500-acre highly urbanized, mostly impervious downtown drainage area. These particular storms were a game-changer for Atlanta. After visiting the flooded neighborhoods, Mayor Kasim Reed committed to finding a long-term solution. Thus began the Southeast Atlanta Green Infrastructure Initiative that created resilient infrastructure by converting the street system to carry and infiltrate drainage rather than generate runoff and send it further downstream. This initiative led to the largest permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) road project in North America with more than four miles deploying 1.5 million concrete pavers.