SR 6202, Sections 701 & 721

With public and municipal involvement playing a critical role in the design process over 10 years, an 8-mile, multi-lane highway project in Montgomery and Bucks Counties was transformed into a $200 million, context-sensitive new Parkway. As one of the few new roadway projects in Pennsylvania, the SR 202 bypass project incorporated Best Management Practices (BMP) for detention basins, biodetention beds, infiltration swales, and riparian buffers. Native trees, shrubs, perennials and warm-season grasses reflected the sustainable goals of the concept plans, as well as complying with the safety engineering and low-maintenance guidelines of PennDOT.

As project landscape architects for two of the three sections, M&M first developed over 10 protypical treatment plans for focal areas such as medians, bridges, residential buffer berms, woodland edges, [park-and-ride?]and roadsides with a recreational trail. Historic mitigation plans were prepared in cooperation with individual homeowners as part of the environmental compliance process. After presentation to Highway Advisory Committees and postings on the PennDOT website, M&M completed landscape plans that represented over $7 million of planting.

Menke & Menke provided full planning and design landscape architectural services throughout the process.

• Site analysis, including alternate alignments
• Planting design and construction documents for all concepts
• Riparian and detention basin planting
• Alternate mitigation approaches for historic and sensitive sites
• Special designs for large residential complexes, including working with their existing landscape designers
• Renderings for public meetings