University of Rhode Island Permeable Parking Lots

Type:Permeable Pavement

Use: Institutional

Installer: 2002 & 2003 lots: Coventry Asphalt and Richmond Sand and Gravel (Installer)

2005 lot: Fleet Construction Co., Inc. (Contractor) and Coventry Asphalt L.L.C

Designer/Developer: 2002 & 2003 lots: Cahill Associates and BETA Group

Installation Date:2002, 2003 and 2005

Address: 400 Plains Rd., University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881

In order to accommodate the demand generated by commuting students and the newly constructed Ryan Convention Center, the University of Rhode Island (URI) installed three parking lots at the Kingston campus during 2002, 2003 and 2005. Porous pavement lots were installed to maintain recharge to groundwater and control runoff of pollutants to surface waters.

The total parking lot capacity of the three lots is 1,800 passenger vehicles. The larger lot, which is 5.5 acres, holds 800 vehicles and was constructed in the fall of 2002 on a turf farm previously utilized by the University for overflow parking. The nearby smaller lot, which is 1.47 acres, is a retrofit of an existing lot and accommodates 200 vehicles. The third lot is an extension of the larger lot and holds 1,000 vehicles.

Extensive information on cost, maintenance, infiltration data and water quality of these sites is available in the publication “The University of Rhode Island’s Permeable Parking Lots, Updated Feb. 2008”

No curbs are installed on the parking lot, instead stop bars are used. This allows any stormwater to flow into swales between parking lot rows and infiltrate.

In the 2005 lot, infiltration islands are connected to conventional islands.

Address: 400 Plains Rd., University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881