Kingston, Linda, Rose Triangle Project

Due to Piedmont’s long-standing history of completing projects through public-private partnerships, the City was approached in 2013 by residents in the neighborhood near Kingston, Linda and Rose Avenues, concerned about the inordinately large paved intersection that was confusing and dangerous for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. There are five legs to the intersection making visibility a constant issue. The large intersection was a vestige of the former light rail “Key System” through Piedmont. Once deemed obsolete, these large intersections were paved over. The development of the triangle and the associated safety improvements ties into the goals of Piedmont’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan (PBMP). Given that much of the walking and biking activity within the City consists of students going to and from school, the triangle helps to achieve the goal of creating safe routes to our schools. Currently, Piedmont’s PCI stands at 66. This project benefits the City’s overall roadway preservation and quality by reducing the amount of paving needed in this intersection, thus allowing the use of available funding more efficiently on roadways in need of upgrades. The design of the triangle was the second such project in the City where roadbed paving was removed and replaced with new landscape planting areas, sidewalks and public seating areas. This project removed 3,600 square feet of impervious paving and replaced it with 3,100 square feet of new planting area and 500 square feet of paving and benches designed to be enjoyed as a small mini park. The raised planting bed, created by the new ornamental stone wall, provides a new soil profile specifically design for the Mediterranean plant palette. The import sandy loam provides optimum drainage for the planting area and the weep holes and drainage field behind the wall allow the collection of surface water to percolate through the soil profile and maximize on site percolation and eliminate surface run-off. This project also qualifies under the new Municipal Water Efficiency Landscape Ordinance (MWELO). Moreover, the new weather based smart irrigation controller is linked to the National Weather Service optimizing water efficiency based on local weather conditions. Finally, besides the supplanting of paving with sustainable landscaping and vastly improving pedestrian safety, the best positive result of this triangle is that it has provided a “parklet” for social interaction. This project has received wide community support which began with residents initiating a private fund raising campaign within the neighborhood to show their earnest desire to help the City solve the traffic and safety issues associated with this intersection. The project also received generous financial support from the Piedmont Beautification Foundation and a local arborist and landscape contractor, Tree Sculpture and Terra Landscape.