BIKESHARE PARTNERSHIP: USING BIKE TOURS TO SHOWCASE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE. Heather Williams and Nancy Cho

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1 BIKESHARE PARTNERSHIP: USING BIKE TOURS TO SHOWCASE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE Heather Williams and Nancy Cho Heather Williams and Nancy Cho, Amec Foster Wheeler Environment and Infrastructure, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana INTRODUCTION Bike share programs have been established in most major cities and facilitate more opportunities for green commuting, leisure activities, and experiencing cityscapes from a different point of view. Amec Foster Wheeler, the Pacer BikeShare Program, and StormCon partnered in 2016 for a bike tour of Green Infrastructure (GI) projects in Indianapolis, Indiana. Over 50 attendees received a guided tour of award winning green infrastructure projects throughout downtown Indianapolis and surrounding historic neighborhoods and experienced parts of the City frequently missed by car. This activity inspired other stormwater bike tours in Indiana, resulting in a closer look at interactions between City departments, non-profits, and regulations that advocate, install, and maintain GI. Each bike tour described below was developed through local knowledge of stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) that were mapped with existing bike trails and then fine-tuned to establish a safe, practical, educational, and entertaining route. Partnerships were necessary to have impactful materials and speakers. Additional resources are being developed to maintain and adapt the routes as self-led and small group tours. INDIANAPOLIS BIKE TOUR The 2016 Indianapolis Bike Tour was organized through a partnership of Amec Foster Wheeler, Pacers BikeShare, and StormCon. The bike tour highlights the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and surrounding GI BMPs. Flyers were created to summarize the features of the bike tour stops and provide maps to participants and a safety orientation was provided by a League of American Bicyclists certified individual. Pacers BikeShare Pacers BikeShare, launched in April 2014, is a public bicycle sharing system where bicycles are available to individuals to use for a monthly or daily fee. Pacers BikeShare is a customized B-cycle system and also part of B-connected. There are over 30 B-Cycle cities nationwide that allow the convenience of bicycle use with a connected membership system. The Indiana Pacers became the title sponsor of the Indianapolis BikeShare program due to a contribution from the Herb Simon Family Foundation, owner of the Indiana Pacers. The capital equipment for the system is funded by a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant from the Federal Highway Administration. User fees, grants, and sponsorships fund the on-going operation of the BikeShare program. In Indianapolis, a network of 26 bike stations are located within a few blocks of one

2 another on or near the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. Bikes, helmets, and liability waivers were provided to participants. Indianapolis Cultural Trail Figure 1: Pacers BikeShare station The Indianapolis Stormwater Bike Tour followed portions of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail through Indianapolis. The Cultural Trail is 8 miles of pedestrian-friendly trail and also includes over 25,000 square feet of stormwater plantings.

3 Figure 2: Stormwater planter (raingarden) along Indianapolis Cultural Trail in the historic Fountain Square neighborhood Amec Foster Wheeler Amec Foster Wheeler has long been active in the stormwater community. Through a contract with the City of Indianapolis, the first NPDES Stormwater Permit was completed in Indianapolis is still the only Phase I community in the state of Indiana. In 2003, 153 Phase II MS4 entities were established, including the City of Bloomington and the City of Franklin, which are discussed later in this paper. Post construction stormwater BMPs in the state of Indiana are not yet held to a volumetric or total suspended solid (TSS) removal standard. A new NPDES permit has been in the works since 2013 with Indiana poised to change from a general permit by rule to general permits in the near future. Pending approval of the new permit, the aging 2003 NPDES permit relies on individual communities to interpret the rule and enact corresponding policy. The current requirement is to develop a Stormwater Quality Management Plan (SWQMP) that includes a commitment to develop, implement, manage, and enforce a program to address discharges of post-construction storm water run-off and enact regulation to promote improved water quality through post-construction requirements and BMPs. Pilot projects, national sustainability programs such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, grants, and stormwater master plans have introduced Indiana communities to GI projects.

4 Communities are working through the growing pains of inventorying GI, ongoing operation and maintenance programs, and engineer and developer acceptance of GI as they update their regulations and guidance materials. Amec Foster Wheeler has the advantage of working with communities in states with more updated NPDES permits that dictate the use of green infrastructure and performance criteria, such as Nashville, TN; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; and Augusta, GA, on stormwater ordinances and design standards. The Indianapolis Amec Foster Wheeler team therefore has the opportunity to bring GI elements not yet required in their home state into practice. Amec Foster Wheeler is also an active participant in both the Indiana MS4 Partnership and Indiana Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management (INAFSM). These organizations bring together elected officials, industry professionals and municipal staff to provide guidance, compliance tools, and meetings for Indiana s NPDES MS4 stormwater permittees. Having StormCon 2016 one block from the Indianapolis Amec Foster Wheeler office inspired participation in a bike tour to showcase local knowledge and local GI projects. The City of Indianapolis maintains operation and maintenance plans for its stormwater BMPs and catalogs checklist of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) with its Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping. Indianapolis MS4 program was audited by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2016 resulting in a renewed compliance effort by the City. Figure 3: Amec Foster Wheeler bike tour team: Nancy Cho, Jean Ramsey, and Heather Williams

5 Tour Stops Each stop on the Indianapolis Bike Tour benefited from an expert speaker. Future bike tours and tours of different cities will emulate this experience though videos that can be played on smart phones and tablets as well as accompanying literature. Five of the bike tour stops are summarized below: The Indianapolis Bike Tour began at the Julia M. Carson Transit Center, which is the new LEED Silver Certified hub for Indianapolis public transportation. Native plantings, water reuse, and efficient irrigation practices were highlighted by the tour. The Nature Conservancy building is the most sustainable building in the state of Indiana. Bike tour attendees got a guided tour of the LEED Platinum Certified building. The pervious pavement parking lot and green roof allow for no stormwater runoff from the building or grounds. Keep Indianapolis Beautiful is a local non-profit company. Rain gardens, cisterns, pervious pavement, green roof, and other green infrastructure elements mitigate the impact of storm water on Indianapolis combined sewer overflow (CSO), while also delivering environmental, social, and economic benefits. The historic Athenaeum had rain gardens installed in 2010 that can store 2,300 gallons of water per rain event. The tour concluded at a residential building that doubles as the White River Alliance and Empower Results office space. This building showcased residential rain gardens and allowed networking on stormwater ideas for residential and commercial projects.

6 Figure 4: Excerpt from StormCon 2016 Stormwater Bike Tour map and flyer

7 BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA BIKE TOUR The Bloomington Bike Tour tells a story of the watershed divide in Bloomington while contrasting a unique community that brings together rural and urban elements with a city and large university. A flyer and map have been developed to maintain the tour as self-guided, with web and smart phone-led tours a future possibility. The parks department is also developing signage to further guide participants. The Bloomington Bike Tour focuses on educating the public about watersheds and the concept of stormwater as a part of the water cycle. This also created the nickname for the bike tour, WaterCycle, a name that brings together the purpose and mode of transportation for the tour. The watershed divide is identified on the tour, with stormwater in the southern portion of the tour flowing south to the East Fork of the White River and the north portion of the tour flows north and west to the West Fork of the White River. Bloomington City Utilities The Bloomington City Utilities runs an active and innovative MS4 program for the City and is a participant in the Indiana MS4 Partnership. They practice what they preach by maintaining pervious pavers in their own parking lot and surrounding their building with rain gardens and GI. Tour Stops If you enter downtown Bloomington by car, the impressive waterfall at the south end of Miller Showers Park will catch your eye as you drive by. Miller Showers Park is nine acres uniquely situated between north and southbound traffic on College and Walnut Streets, but you ll have to leave your car behind to experience the first stop on the Bloomington Stormwater Bike Tour. The park is looped by a pedestrian trail and attendance is further encouraged with a small parking lot, interpretive signs, and public art. All of the stormwater runoff north of the stormwater divide in Bloomington will enter Miller Showers Park. From , the park was completely rebuilt to treat stormwater with a swirl chamber, basins of aquatic plants, and a system of weirs before it enters a creek one mile to the north in Cascades Park and then joins Griffy Creek. Figure 5: Miller Showers Park in Bloomington, Indiana

8 Bloomington is home to the University of Indiana Hoosiers, and with them comes the impervious surface that accompanies college stadiums and parking lots. Although it was built in 1971, it has since been retrofitted with several stormwater BMPs. The Purple Parking Lot at Memorial Stadium has 23 bio-retention areas and three aqua swirl units maintained by the University. Permeable paving is found on the south side of Indiana University s Assembly Hall and strips of porous concrete direct water underground to a water reuse storage tank. The tour then runs through campus and stops at Hodge Hall, the business school, which has two bio-retention cells. Leaving the university campus on the tour, the City and parks areas are then explored. Bloomington s parks, residential areas, and rural areas benefit from its adopt-a-stream program. This includes Sheridan Creek, through Bryan Park near the center of the City. Prior to its adoption, its banks were eroding with grass mowed to the edge and no further maintenance plan. Bloomington Parks and Recreation and adopt-a-stream volunteers have transformed this uninteresting ditch into a haven for butterflies and birds with native plantings and stream restoration. Another section of the stream is scheduled for improvement beginning in 2017 and is also included on the Bloomington Bike Tour, complete with before and after pictures. The B-line trail is a 3.1 mile pedestrian trail from the east side of Adams Street, through the downtown Bloomington, through the switchyard property, and to the north side of Country Club Drive. The last leg of the bike tour allows participants to cruise almost a mile of the B-line and check out storm drain markers, grass swales, native plantings, and other BMPs along the way. The downtown sections of the trail incorporate design features such as street name paver treatments at each crossing, a human/pet drinking fountain, park benches, limestone accents, trees, and landscaping. Some sections feature energy-efficient LED fixtures. The B-line connects back to Miller Showers Park and concludes the tour. FRANKLIN, INDIANA AND FUTURE BIKE TOURS Through involvement in the Indiana MS4 Partnership and INAFSM, opportunities for stormwater bike tours are being identified in a variety of MS4s. There is a large-scale push to link pedestrian trails throughout Indiana, with more than 3,600 miles of local, state, federal and non-profit trails open to the public and even more miles in the planning stages. Many of these trails are along historic railroad corridors and planning efforts are focused on linking existing trails, promoting physical activity, and increasing green space. The City of Franklin is located 20 miles south of Indianapolis. It is connected to Indianapolis and has a small downtown, but it is still largely a rural watershed. Franklin is currently experiencing residential growth and is also active in the Indiana MS4 community. The City of Franklin is crisscrossed by the Franklin Greenway Trail: five miles though Franklin s parks, preserved wetlands, native areas, farmlands, and 40 acre historic cemetery dating back to New residential construction on the trail showcases construction site BMPs and the installation of post-construction GI elements.

9 Figure 6: Bike repair station along Franklin s Greenway Trail CONCLUSION MS4 programs require public education and public involvement and many struggle with implementation that go beyond websites and add-ons to local festivals. Participation in a stormwater bike tour appeals to bicycle, fitness, and nature enthusiasts who may have little knowledge of LID and can create an experience that stays with the participant and enhances their stormwater awareness. The activity plugs into public education and public involvement requirements, and tracking for annual reporting can be accomplished via map downloads, automated bike counters, or surveys. Many MS4 communities have educational signs showcasing GI and other educational elements that can be incorporated into a self-led, smart-phone led, or presenter-organized bike tour. Once one bike tour format is developed, adapting a given bike tour to multiple lengths and formats is relatively simple and expands the opportunities for stormwater education and public participation. Pedestrian-friendly trails and BikeShare programs have been established in most major cities and make it even easier to get around and explore GI in the community. Amec Foster Wheeler is building momentum in the establishment of stormwater GI bike tours in several communities in Indiana and encourages other communities to create their own. New bike trails and the technology to map trails and share ideas will continue to drive the success of these activities.