Eindhoven wants to turn the embankments under flyovers much greener. Innovative paving stones, instead of ordinary ones now used, will have to be used to turn embankments into ‘green oases’.
This should make viaducts more vibrant and pleasant to cycle under. It should also help to prevent the nuisance of surplus water, as rainwater will be used to help grow plants.
The idea was proposed by the Eindhoven-based design office Studio Ons, at the request of the municipality. The embankment of the Tilburgseweg was the first where innovative paving was used.
Shoulders or embankments are often totally made of stone and are according to the municipality unsafe places. The new paving stones must change this. They are equipped with water gutters that allow water to flow to the plants. The gutters are inspired by a specific pattern, which also occurs in desert soil. The gutters lead to the plants under the embankment.
‘When it is green under viaducts, verges alongside roads are no longer interrupted by petrified and gloomy looking embankments,’ the municipality writes. ‘Rainwater no longer runs into the sewage system unused either’.
In order to make the project financially possible, subsidy funds from the province are used.
Translated by Kate
