Denver turns asphalt into gardens to reduce flooding and reinvest in Five Points

DENVER — Patches of asphalt are being ripped up and replaced with gardens, trees and native plants in Five Points. It's part of a new city effort to capture and clean stormwater before it reaches the South Platte River.

The Swift Implementation of Green Infrastructure program, known as SIGI, aims to quickly install dozens of small green infrastructure projects in neighborhoods that historically lacked trees and permeable landscaping. The effort is currently focused in Five Points. This year, crews began converting unused strips of pavement — including a site at 24 th and Champa Streets — into planted basins that slow runoff, filter pollutants and passively water new plantings. Unused asphalt between the sidewalk and road is being converted into gardens that reduce flooding, filter wate