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Bus Stop Green Roofs
Green roofs for bus shelters help reduce extreme heat and stormwater impacts for commuters in Boston.
WHY WE ARE DOING THIS
There is an urgent need for resilient infrastructure and proactive measures to mitigate the detrimental effects of stormwater flooding and extreme heat on Boston's urban landscape. Bus shelter green roofs, also known as living roofs, are covered with vegetation planted over a waterproof membrane. They are lightweight and have a shallow growing space for small, low-maintenance, drought-tolerant plants like sedums and mosses. Bus stop green roofs provide many benefits, including reducing urban heat islands and improving air quality, managing stormwater runoff, and providing a habitat for birds, insects, and other wildlife.
WHAT WE ARE DOING
- MONUM and the Office of Climate Resilience worked with partners across the city to enable the installation of 30 green roofs along the MBTA’s #28 bus route, a fare-free bus line that runs between Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury, which represents some of the city's urban heat islands. This project advances key strategies in Boston’s Heat Plan, including the “Cool Commutes” strategy, which aims to create cooler commutes through shaded bus stops.
- These green roofs provide direct shade over bus shelters, which typically have transparent roofs. In addition to keeping people cool on hot days, the plantings will absorb rainwater, reduce runoff, and capture pollutants, thereby contributing to better water quality and flood prevention. Finally, the small rooftop gardens will also support birds and pollinators, fostering greater biodiversity in urban areas. This is the largest single installation of green roofs on bus shelters in the nation.
- To install and maintain the green roofs, the City partnered with Social Impact Collective, a Boston-based, minority-owned architecture and design firm, Weston Nurseries, a Massachusetts-based plant nursery, and YouthBuild Boston, a local non-profit organization that focuses on providing underserved young people with the support and credentials needed to successfully enter the construction and design industry.
