A GIS-Based Framework Creating Green Stormwater Infrastructure Inventory Relevant to Surface Transportation Planning

Abstract

The stormwater runoff that carries pollutants from the land adjacent to road transportation systems may impair the water environment and threaten the ecosystem and human health. A proper management approach like green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) can help control flooding and the runoff pollutants. One barrier for GSI analysis relevant to system-level surface transportation planning is the lack of the inventory of GSI in many U.S. cities. This study aims to develop a GIS-based framework for creating GSI inventory in a time and labor efficient way, different from the traditional survey-based method. The new proposed framework consists of three steps, including road categorization, GSI mapping, and GSI type identification using the GIS data, high-resolution land-cover image, and Google Earth street view pictures. The new approach was tested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and also applied in Tampa, Florida. The results showed that the new GIS-based framework can achieve similar accuracy to the survey-based method while saving time and labor. The GSI inventory created in the study demonstrated the usefulness of the proposed framework for analyzing the status of GSI implementation and identifying gaps for future planning in terms of potential locations and underrepresented GSI types.