To revitalise the street sidewalks with improved architecture and overall landscape, the City of Las Vegas allocated $25M for their downtown street upgrade project.
Strong growth of diverse, healthy trees in a dry and hot environment
A significant part of this great initiative involved the 3rd Street tree planting project, which was intended to transform the intersections of Charleston Blvd and Bonneville Avenue into a vibrant walkable corridor.
With a $19.6M budget over a timeframe of 13 months, authorities had intended to rehabilitate the 3rd street roadway with trees so that residents and visitors could enjoy passing through it while exploring the city.
“The project’s goal centred on improving the streetscape. The 3rd Street will effectively connect our Main Street, which includes food and retail shops, to our business downtown district”
Brad Daseler, Urban Forester of the City of Las Vegas, stated.
“This would increase the apply, improve the commercial aspect and make this important section more visually memorable.”
Citygreen’s Stratavault™ system cultivated the way to ensure the success of this project by facilitating the strong growth of diverse, healthy trees along the urban environment found on 3rd Street.
Project goals
The rehabilitation of 3rd Street was led by the local contractor, Las Vegas Paving. The different goals prioritised by the project were:
- Improving the pedestrian and biking experience downtown
- Attracting new developments by beautifying the existing streetscape
- Using a better approach to planting city trees
- Optimising spaces for tree root growth and service integration
Matt Durham, the Project’s Landscape Architect, also added,
“The City of Las Vegas wanted instant impact with this project. They wanted a colourful street with mature trees that would provide a lot of shade. Due to the large amounts of paving in these streetscape environments and our challenging climate and soils in Las Vegas, streetscape trees are typically slow growing and don’t always reach the desired sizes.”
The common challenge of the Vegas environment
Growing trees in an urban environment with scarce soil and a challenging desert climate like Las Vegas has always been a major challenge for the 3rd Street project.
City trees were often cramped in planting pits, so it was a struggle for them to thrive, reach their desired sizes and provide large canopies of shade over the area. Trees were also prone to causing structural damage, resulting in more vehicular traffic and disrupted pedestrian movement, not to mention repairs.
The City had to solve all of these concerns and find a way to ensure their trees would have a conducive environment to grow and meet the project’s core objectives.
With the 3rd Street being a major part of the city’s street upgrade initiatives, those who were managing the tree planting project also had to take into account the spaces required for ducts of utilities, while providing the soil volume appropriate for trees.
An urban environment with a challenging hot and dry climate, Fremont Street (left) and Hoover Dam (right) in Las Vegas.
The project methodology
Fortunately, the Stratavault™ system from Citygreen was the perfect solution to address all of the needs of 3rd Street’s tree planting project.
The uncompacted soil space the Stratavault™ system provided was effective in building “sustainable architecture of the soil”. These soil cells were also designed to allow strong root growth without damaging the surrounding paved surfaces.
To meet the structural integrity requirements, The Stratavault™ system featured increased apertures that allowed for larger conduits, service pipe and aeration systems. Its modules were assembled to form an interconnected matrix that then enabled the applied load (weight from cars, street furniture and people, for instance) to be shared and lateral strength to be maximised.
The soil cells were also easily assembled and installed for maximum convenience – even without the use of zip ties, screws or ground spikes. To highlight the key benefits, Brad shared his thoughts on working with Stratavault™’s technology.
“We generally have tough compacted soils here, but Stratavault™ equipped our trees with a larger soil volume and a better chance at providing benefits to the city and our citizens. Now, our trees can have the soil and nutrient resources to grow large and live long lives, without limitations or risk to the surrounding property.”
The project’s outcome
The Stratavault™ system delivered positive outcomes for 3rd Street tree planting project, as the trees planted on it appeared evidently more nourished in comparison to those which were planted in native compacted soil.
Matt said,
“The trees look amazing – they look like they have been there for years! The City is happy, and I am excited to watch the landscape and the surrounding development fill in. He also attested that the Stratavault™ system paved the way for the city’s utility infrastructure to be upgraded. The Stratavault™ system provided protection for the utilities. It also supported the paving above without the need to make the soil inhospitable to roots.”
The City of Las Vegas believed that with thriving trees, their streetscape would be more inviting and accessible in the many years to come. The growth of large, long-living trees would also bring more comfort and safety for every resident and tourist.
At Citygreen, our wide range of cutting-edge urban landscape products like the Stratavault™ system can transform your communities to be greener, healthier and more sustainable too.
