Demonstration bioswales in New York City. Image by NYC Water

Demonstration bioswales in New York City. Image by NYC Water

The New York City Department of Design and Construction (NYCDDC) awarded Dewberry (Fairfax, Va.), a contract to provide design services for green infrastructure improvements in New York City.

The contract includes preparing plans using the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) standard design for

  • right-of-way bioswales,
  • right-of-way rain gardens, and
  • stormwater green streets.

The plans adhere to DEP’s site selection, survey, and geotechnical investigation procedures and will apply green infrastructure practices.

By creating and implementing a geographic information systems (GIS) based custom solution for green infrastructure projects, the firm improves the efficiency of hydrologic engineering desktop analyses and field data collection. The GIS tools automate the process of delineating tributary drainage areas according to DEP’s standards and a custom script for GIS field collection runs on a mobile tablet.

This tool allows for quick turnaround of updated maps for field meetings and coordination with geotechnical and survey team members. These highly effective GIS innovations will benefit NYCDDC by speeding up workflow and improving quality.