City of Berkeley │ Marina Streets Improvement Project

Berkeley, CA

NCE’s green infrastructure design included bioswales, bio detention basins, and pervious parking shoulders to reduce peak flows and allow for stormwater infiltration.

A modern roundabout at University Avenue and Marina Boulevard improves safety and traffic flow and incorporates green infrastructure bio detention basins.

Using on-site pavement and subgrade materials for the road reconstruction saves material and trucking cost and reduces greenhouse gas emissions related to the project.

Project Description

NCE lead integrated civil design and environmental review and permitting for a high-visibility local road widening and reconstruction project serving the ¾-mile corridor from Highway 80 to the Berkeley Marina, including a harbor, boat launch, hotels, services, and park amenities. The project realigned the street to move off the old pier structure and address decades-old pavement failure and poor drainage. It included a new roundabout connection and street resurfacing with shoulder parking improvements and pedestrian enhancements.

This project offered a unique opportunity to incorporate low-impact development strategies and elements. Because it took place within a sensitive habitat corridor, NCE’s biologists and natural resources team took careful consideration of biological resources, sea level rise, and resiliency during the design and preparation of necessary permits. NCE’s civil engineering team incorporated green infrastructure elements (bioswales, bioretention basins, pervious parking shoulders) into the roundabout design to reduce peak flows and provide the opportunity for infiltration of storm water runoff. The regrading of the roundabout to drain inwards instead of outwards also allowed for plantings of Bay Area native plant species.

NCE’s pavement scientists proposed recycling the existing pavement in the lanes to create the new roadway base. In coordinating the pavement and roadway design in this way, this innovative approach saved the City potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars by minimizing the off-hauled pavement materials and re-using materials on site.

NCE was responsible for civil engineering, landscape architecture, hydrology and hydraulics, pavement engineering, special environmental studies, topographic surveying, utility coordination, traffic engineering, and bidding and construction support for this project. The realignment of this gateway corridor provided multi-modal access to the Berkeley waterfront and local parks, enhanced pedestrian and traffic safety, and new open space.