REP's Project in Longmont, CO Wins Sustainability Award
StartFragment'The first two completed reaches of the City of Longmont’s Resilient St. Vrain project have been selected as the 2018 winner of the “Sustainability” award for a large community given out by the Colorado chapter of the American Public Works Association (CO APWA).'EndFragment
CO APWA describes the sustainability award as recognizing “efficient delivery of infrastructure in an environmentally and socially responsible way that ensures the best choice in the long term.” Award criteria included innovation, achievement, transferability and cooperation.
The nature of instream projects is inherently multi-purpose and multi-user. An artful balance between competing design interests must be struck for a successful project. Such is the case in REP's St. Vrain project in Longmont. Instream design is always multi-purpose, combining the desires of the community and avid recreationalists with the necessity to create a sustainable and safe stretch of the river from an engineering and environmental perspective. Improvements like those done in this project have lasting positive effects on aquatic habitat and fish passage, local floodplain concerns, public access, instream navigation and user safety, recreational opportunities, and structural stability. REP is proud to see this project receive this prestigious sustainability award and commends the City for its leadership efforts on this project 15 years in the making. This project has the potential to set an example for other communities approaching waterway projects in creative ways.