The Super Hero of Parking Lots



Paver System Substrate - not to scale

Ok.  So super hero is stretching it, but this innovative concrete paver and blacktop parking lot at River Park Place (home of the new Boise Whole Foods Market and a very nice Walgreens) does its bit to protect the Boise River and nearby Julia Davis Park.  It prevents silt and pollutants from the surface lot and rooftop drainage of the 5.5+ acre site from being carried off and seeping into the river or surrounding area. 

Typical parking lots have drainage grates and below ground piping to handle storm water runoff.  They often overflow in heavy rains.  River Park Place utilizes sand, gravel, concrete and gravity to manage 100% of its storm water on site.  No flooding, no leaching, no adding to the public waste water system.  Even in a 100-year storm!*

CSHQA civil engineer Jeff Ward, PE led the design and development team in searching out the unique solution.  Ward researched multiple options of handling storm water in areas of high ground water.  He selected an engineered substrate of sand and permeable rock covered with a combination of traditional paving and approximately 39,000 sf of Spec-Pave-100 pavers sourced from Basalite Concrete Products in Meridian, Idaho.  www.basalite.com

Site grading directs runoff toward the pavers where it drains and is temporarily stored in as much as 44 inches of rock and sand.  Natural infiltration then discharges the storm water.  Widely applied in Europe the permeable paver system is relatively new to the US.  It has been used with great success at the Port of Oakland and City of Portland. 

*Projected storm water for a 100-year rain event is 1 inch of rain per hour.  For 5.5+ acres  that equates to over 150,000 gallons per hour!