Downtown Boardwalk, Wetlands Accompany Stormwater Improvements

The City of Washington undertook a project aimed at updating their stormwater management system and creating a wetlands/boardwalk area to function both as a filter for runoff and as a recreational asset for it’s citizens. The Wooten Company served as the prime consultant and provided design, construction administration and construction observation for the project, which ACEC/NC awarded with their Grand Award for Water Resources. There were three phases of improvements within the work performed. The first included retrofitting the downtown stormwater system to capture a portion of the runoff before it entered the Pamlico River. The second realigned Stewart Parkway along the riverfront in order to reduce impervious cover, and the third involved the construction of the wetlands and boardwalk. A 36-inch through 60-inch diameter bypass piping system was designed to capture the first flush runoff from 73 acres of downtown area and deliver it to the constructed wetland to remove pollutants before discharging into the river. The four acre wetland was designed per NC Best Management Practices and the 1900 foot elevated boardwalk through the wetland served as an extension of the riverfront park, connecting residential areas to the NC Estuarium and the central business district in Washington. The project cost the city $1.457 million but received funding from a Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant.