pervious concrete

San Francisco Data is in, Pervious Concrete Reigns Supreme

We have some great news to share backed by data-driven research!

Some of you may recall our work along Holloway Street back in 2017. If not, can you read about it here. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) hired us to install parking lanes along eight blocks of Holloway Street as part of a city-wide effort showcasing the effectiveness of green infrastructure and stormwater management in the Ingleside neighborhood.

Holloway Green Streets Project - north side

After completion, the area was carefully monitored between 2017-2019. Analyzing two years’ worth of data, the pervious concrete along with the rain gardens show an impressive overall reduction in stormwater volume of 77%! With results like this, it is no surprise the adaption of pervious concrete stormwater pavement systems into new green infrastructure design continues to grow at a rapid pace.

As SFPUC’s Green Infrastructure Planning Specialist, Mike Adamow said, “After four years of service, the pervious concrete installed on the SFPUC’s Holloway Green Street project has met or exceeded our expectations and is providing valuable lessons learned that we will use to inform the design of future projects. The combination of a well-trained and experienced contractor, a proven mix design, close contractor coordination with the concrete supplier during batching and delivery, along with proper protection after installation has resulted in an asset that should serve the SFPUC ratepayers well for years to come. As this and other types of permeable pavement installations age, it is becoming clear that the advantages of pervious concrete position this material to be the preferred permeable pavement type for future SFPUC projects.”

Commercial Lot Gets a Pervious Makeover

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Commercial Lot Gets a Pervious Makeover

Running out of room at their current location, the South San Francisco Scavenger Company recently purchased a large property to store their debris boxes and garbage bins. The 66,000 square foot yard, however, was a combination of dirt and gravel, and not at all suitable for their needs. The initial plan was to pave the yard with asphalt, until the City informed them they could not do anything that would increase the quantity of stormwater-runoff from the property.

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New Detail Alert – Read All About It!

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New Detail Alert – Read All About It!

Bay Area Pervious Concrete was recently asked to install our decorative exposed aggregate pervious pavement in the parking areas of a high-end residential project. The driveway itself was a beautiful 2’ x 2’ Italian stone and was designed to be permeable. To achieve this, the landscape contractor used a Class II permeable base and then mortared directly on the base to set the stones. The bed of mortar was carefully placed so as not to fill the spaces between the stone, creating a passageway for surface water to pass through to the base rock.

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One of These Things (Is Not Like the Other)

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One of These Things (Is Not Like the Other)

“One of these things is not like the other,” Ernie from Sesame Street said it best.  For those that claim impervious surfaces, such as asphalt and concrete, and pervious surfaces are synonymous, that is not true.  Bay Area Pervious Concrete’s David Liguori went out on the field this week to report on some real-time comparisons between these two surfaces during our most recent storm, and the evidence is striking. 

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Caltrans Pervious Concrete Workshop

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Caltrans Pervious Concrete Workshop

Over the several years BAPC's David Liguori has worked with Caltrans to update their pervious concrete design guidelines and specifications. Recently, he and the California Nevada Cement Association were asked by Caltrans District 4 to provide a pervious concrete workshop for their material, pavement, stormwater, and highway engineers.

The three hour workshop provided 28 Caltrans engineers with the latest developments in pervious concrete system design, specifications, and best management practices. Afterwards attendees were bursting with ideas and projects where pervious concrete would help solve their stormwater design issues. They expressed how grateful they were that our presentation was technical, detail-oriented and highly educational, not just a fluffy sales-pitch.

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You're Invited to the Holloway St Walking Tour - Nov 2nd

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You're Invited to the Holloway St Walking Tour - Nov 2nd

Need a good reason to get out of the office? Want to learn more about green infrastructure and pervious concrete? Join the ASCE Sustainability Committee on November 2nd, 12:00-1:30pm, for a guided walking tour of the Holloway Green Street project, led by Mike Adamow of SFPUC. Register on Eventbrite.

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Holloway Green Street - Pervious Concrete Installation

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Holloway Green Street - Pervious Concrete Installation

We have finally begun to install the pervious concrete on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Holloway Green Street Project! The project involves eight blocks of new streetscape along Holloway Street. The green street improvements include both permeable pavement and rain gardens to manage stormwater through local infiltration. One of the reasons this is such an exciting project is it's the first use of pervious concrete in a public right-of-way in San Francisco. 

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Presentation Series: Planning with Pervious Concrete

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Want to learn why pervious concrete is the most cost effective stormwater BMP? Bay Area Pervious Concrete's David Liguori will be providing a series of informational presentations in February and March. By attending the following events you will learn how a pervious concrete stormwater system can simplify your site designs, decrease project costs, while complying with municipal stormwater regulations. 

Bay Area Pervious Concrete

Planning with Pervious Concrete

February 3rd, 11:45am-1:00pm
APWA-Sacramento Chapter Luncheon
Dante Club, 2330 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento , CA , 95825

Pervious concrete stormwater management systems, which operate according to a principle known as LATIS, or Large Area Thin Infiltration Systems, are considerably more effective and less costly than other BMPs when designed appropriately. A 180° departure from conventional design, LATIS requires a major re-think. This presentation illustrates this new design approach and walks participants through the building of a system model to reduce overall project costs, while complying with regulations. Register here.

PERVIOUS CONCRETE 2.0: Beyond the Basics

March 8th, 11:45am-1:00pm
East Bay Municipal Engineers Lunch Meeting
Legends at Diablo Creek, 4050 Port Chicago Hwy, Concord, CA 94520

Have you attended the introductory presentation and feel like you know enough to be dangerous? Take it to the next level and join us while we dive deeper into the details of designing and specifying a Pervious Concrete water management system based on LATIS ( Large Area Thin Infiltration System). We will go through the latest specifications released in the fall of 2016, take apart several designs, study various details, cover base and subgrade prep as well as the finer aspects of infiltration.

 This presentation will give you what you need to put pen to paper and supercharge, by simplifying, your site design. Register here. 

 

Can’t make it to one of these events? Have your organization’s lunch and learn coordinator contact us to schedule a presentation at your office.

Want to Improve your Low-Impact Development Projects? Take This Tour.

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Want to Improve your Low-Impact Development Projects? Take This Tour.

Santa Cruz County is providing a tour of five of its recent low-impact development projects. At each stop on the tour you will be able to gain insights from the project managers, engineers, architects and contractors that worked on the projects. In addition, the tour features Bay Area Pervious Concrete's installation at Heart of Soquel Park. David Liguori will be at the Heart of Soquel Park tour stop to talk about the pervious concrete courtyard and parking lot we installed at the park in 2015. 

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Don't Let This Godzilla El Niño Smash Up Your City - Protect It with Pervious Concrete

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Don't Let This Godzilla El Niño Smash Up Your City - Protect It with Pervious Concrete

The last time that the category of El Niño was considered Very Stong was the winter of 1997-1998, where many California communities suffered from mudslides and flooding. This year's El Niño is showing signs that it could be even stronger. There is a strong chance that the Bay Area could see as much as twice the annual precipitation, maybe above 40 inches of rain. This could greatly impact the state by damaging homes, disrupting transportation systems, schools, and businesses - potentially costing state residents billions of dollars. Many cities are preparing for the additional rainfall by cleaning out their waterways and storm systems.  California officials are warning people to prepare for potential flooding conditions. You may be asking, "What can I do to reduce the risk of flooding for my home or business?"

One thing you can do is by replacing sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, patios, and roads with pervious concrete. Luckily, installing pervious concrete is one type of El Niño preparation you may be able to receive a rebate for. Saving you money upfront and in the long run!

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Pervious Concrete Has Been Supporting Heavy Loads, Tire Abrasion and Freeze-Thaw Cycles for Years

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Pervious Concrete Has Been Supporting Heavy Loads, Tire Abrasion and Freeze-Thaw Cycles for Years

Over the past few weeks we have seen the internet explode with interest over the recently announced Topmix Permeable concrete from Tarmac Lafarge in the UK. People are marveling over concrete that allows water to not only go through it, and back into the ground, but at an incredible rate. The video we featured on our last blog post is impressive and demonstrated just how fast. We were excited to see so much interest in pervious concrete by so many different people. However, we did notice some discrepancies in the way that pervious concrete was discussed in some of the media outlets, and we wanted to take some time to clarify a couple things.

Some of the media outlets portrayed pervious concrete as a new product that was not available in the United States - which is false. Pervious concrete has been used for stormwater management throughout the US for over 40 years. What's different, or innovative, about Tarmac's Topmix Permeable concrete is it boasts a whopping 35% air void space, which is why it infiltrates at such a high rate.  Tarmac representatives have stated in interviews that the product has some limitations on where, and when, it should be used. They are not recommending Topmix Permeable for high-traffic areas, in places where vehicles make lots of tight turns, or in places with freeze-thaw cycles, as it will eventually start breaking up the surface layer. Some media corespondents have portrayed that all pervious concrete had these limitations - which is also false. While Topmix Permeable may have these limitations, more traditional pervious concrete does not share the same limitations.  In the US, mix designs have evolved and have already solved the issues of heavy traffic, weight loads, turning vehicle traffic, and freeze/thaw cycles. 

Through trial and error the pervious concrete industry has discovered that 20% air void space provides the proper balance between strength, durability, and high infiltration rates. The additional bonds provided by only having 20% air voids, allows for a stronger, longer-lasting material, with just as much infiltration capacity to mitigate all of a site's stormwater. 

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Super Pervious Concrete - A Real Life Demonstration in Palo Alto, CA

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Super Pervious Concrete - A Real Life Demonstration in Palo Alto, CA

The internet has been calling this pervious concrete "Super permeable" and Magical." If you agree, you don't have to travel to the UK to see it or have it! Bay Area Pervious Concrete has been installing super pervious concrete management systems for nearly a decade. This viral video, from  the UK firm Lafarge Tarmac, is a great representative of how fast pervious concrete can infiltrate water, but how does pervious concrete handle longer water events - like heavy rain storms? A real life test of pervious concrete. In our Stormwater Sleuthing video David compares two driveways after at least 12 hours of steady rainfall.

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Why Use Asphalt? In Morgan Hill They Use Pervious Concrete Curb to Curb

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Why Use Asphalt? In Morgan Hill They Use Pervious Concrete Curb to Curb

When most people think of road pavement, they think of asphalt. The new East Dunne Ave housing development in Morgan Hill, CA decided to do something different. They had Bay Area Pervious Concrete install pervious concrete from curb to curb for the new Seville Drive. Pervious concrete works great for roadways. Pervious concrete roadways have a lifespan of 30-50 years before it may need to be replaced. They are largely maintenance free for their entire lifespan. The extra benefit of pervious concrete is that it is a stormwater management system that doubles as a pavement. 

Unlike pervious concrete roads, asphalt roadways have short lifespans, and require regular maintenance. Asphalt roads must be replaced, or resealed, every 10-15 years. This increases the maintenance necessary and inconvenience for residents. Typical asphalt roads also do not provide any stormwater management services. In fact they can actually contribute to poor stormwater management by concentrating pollutants that collect on the surface and rapidly shedding them into local waterways.

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Arana Gulch Trail - A Revisit

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If you haven't been lucky enough to experience the renovated Arana Gulch Trail in Santa Cruz yet, you are in luck! Thanks to a video shot by Greg McPheeters, of People Power,  you can ride the trail from anywhere.

We are so happy that people are excited about the new trail and are sharing their experiences of it. If you have your own Arana Gulch trail photos to share we would love to see them.