The City of Chicago has begun construction on the Cermak/Blue Island Sustainable Streetscape Demonstration Project.  The project goal is to create an environmentally friendly “green street” on Cermak Road and Blue Island Avenue between Ashland and Western Avenues.  The project calls for the use of recycled materials, pervious surfaces to improve stormwater drainage, and reflective pavement coatings and street trees to reduce the ‘heat island effect’ in the summer.  In addition, along the Blue Island Avenue segment, bike and parking lanes are to be paved with a "smog-eating" concrete, which contains titanium dioxide and is said to help break down pollutants into less harmful compounds.

For more on the City’s Streetscape and Sustainable Design Program, visit CDOT’s website.  You can also download a presentation on the Cermak/Blue Island project from the Center for Neighborhood Technology.