Starr Whitehouse presented three final concepts in a public meeting to 35 neighborhood residents as well as representatives of city agencies and state and local elected officials. The three concepts propose various degrees of linkages across the trench, the planting of trees, noise reduction schemes, and additional park space. Each concept is progressively more involved (and more expensive), but provides more open space, noise reduction and pollution mitigation.
The first concept, called Maximum Green, proposes to reconfigure the existing bridges to provide planter space and stormwater retention in swales for irrigation use. The trench would be surrounded with a plexiglass or artistic wall to cut down on noise from the highway. The second concept, called Connections, proposes the same as the first concept, but adds a series of 5 new prefabricated bicycle and pedestrian bridges at cross-streets that were severed by the BQE.
This is a perfect example of how we can integrate distributed renewables into the built environment… In Colorado we now have the Community Solar Gardens Act, which allows for shared ownership of solar energy. This would work well with the sort of design shown here.