Now that the infiltration trench and bio-swale have been constructed, it is time to lay the sidewalk, which goes on top of the infiltration trench. How’s that, you say? Putting a sidewalk on top of the place where water is supposed to soak in? For the Paseo, we installed pervious concrete but even if we had used regular cement, it still would have worked as the system is designed to receive water from the bio-swale underground.

The Pervious Concrete Pathway winds its way from one end of the Paseo to the other, providing a pleasant and safe path. Pervious concrete has ‘voids’ or gaps that are created when the fines are removed from mix thereby allowing water to flow through the concrete. Water falling on or over the pervious concrete will flows through these spaces to the infiltration trench below it. To begin construction of the Pervious Concrete Pathway, a course of gravel was spread out over the infiltration trench and areas of the exposed impervious liner.

Unlike Portland cement concrete, pervious concrete sets up quickly. Many hands were needed to pour, spread, smooth, and score the concrete. The choreography of material and work was impressive that day and kudos to Rudy and his crew at J&M Contractors for a pathway many will enjoy.

To aide in the curing process and protect from errant soil or debris, the completed pathway was covered with plastic sheeting. Below you see the completed pervious pathway along with one of the landscape boulders.

Next up is construction of the Forebay, an important element of the design to protect the bio-swale from erosion and clogged soil.

To be continued