Chicago offers blueprint for green lanes

By John Bennett

December 14, 2007

To my way of thinking, Savannah’s lanes are one of the most ingenious components of Gen. James Oglethorpe’s city plan. I’m thankful that they were replicated in my 20th century neighborhood. Lanes — or alleys are as they are called most everywhere else — aren’t very glamorous but they fill a number of important roles. Could they do more?

Chicago, which has more than 1,900 miles of public alleys, thinks so. At last night’s Chatham Urban Transit Study Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, Jason House recommended checking out the what that city is doing. Its Green Alley Program is designed to “showcase innovative environmental technologies to help manage stormwater, reduce heat in urban areas, promote recycling and conserve energy.” Do any of those concerns sound familiar to us here in Savannah?

The Chicago Green Alley Handbook (download here) describes tools used to achieve these goals including paving surfaces that are water permeable, light reflective and made from recyclable materials; and dark sky compliant fixtures, among others.

Here’s a Chicago Sun-Times story from October: Using alleys to fight heat, water runoff.

Posted in Global Warming, Green Building, Planning, Recycling, Transportation