Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Why is Fayetteville still stocking up on curb and gutter and topsoil?

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of scenes along the site of the Oak Ridge trail through University of Arkansas property by Fayetteville city workers. The University required minimizing the width of the right of way for the trail, which is more difficult and requires much greater care than building a trail where a wide right of way may be used.
For 160 more November 17, 2010, photos of the Oak Ridge trail, please see Flickr photos in set of photos titled Trails of Northwest Arkansas.

I remain frustrated that the city's various watershed and streamside protection and low-impact development ordinances are taking a long time to get passed into law. So forgive me if I complain too often. But curb and gutter should be a special, extra option rather than a standard procedure in street, trail and sidewalk construction whether by developers or by city workers or contractors. We can't keep the water where it falls if we keep routing it directly to our streams to erode the banks and carry silt and other polluting substances to our reservoirs and rivers. 
The addition of sifted topsoil in many instances is counterproductive because it washes away easily and damages our watershed. It is difficult to stabilize and not as useful for growing grass and trees and flowering plants as is the soil removed for the construction jobs. 

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