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Interview Type: Project Partner Interview
Interviewees: Mr. Huels, Mr. Witty, Prof. Dowding
Interviewers: Michael Richards, Jose Muniz, Vincent Pintozzi, Can Ozcan
Purpose: Comprehensive Understanding of Design Problem
Project: Green Bay Trail Beautification Project
Date: 4/6/2021
Location: Zoom
The initial interview with the project partners, Huels, Witty, and Dowding, was conducted on April 6th, 2021. The purpose of this interview was to glean a more comprehensive understanding of the design problem and hear the project partners’ vision for the future of the project. The key findings of the interview are transcribed below.
Mr. Steve Huels, representing Friends of the Green Bay Trail
Mr. Craig Witty, Winnetka resident and fellow representative of Friends of Green Bay Trail
Prof. C.H. Dowding, representing Winnetka Environmental and Forestry Commission
How/ where does the trail transition from below to above grade?
The transition of the trail from above to below grade occurs majorly at south of ash street. In a lot of the places along the trail, the foliage can obscure the RR. There are concrete walls and other indicators of erosion to show when the trail is below grade.
Is the Railroad a major concern?
The RR directly borders the trail, so the train can be very interruptive for people on the trail.
Foliage obstructing?
Buckthorn can grow so thick that it has become problematic for the bird life and the habitat but gives people a natural barrier.
How has the beauty of the trail deteriorated? Loss of popularity of certain areas?
There is an unnatural ditch in the Winnetka section due to the underground railway. This unnatural setting has allowed buckthorn to grow unhindered. In addition, maintenance has been low, causing leaves to block drainage, causing large amounts of water to collect. In addition, passing under bridges is an eye sore.
What is the community presence like in Winnetka?
There is an opportunity to make Winnetka a community that actively supports the trail, but it has only slightly been explored because of little community awareness. The government of Winnetka is divided over responsibility of the trail, with the village being in control of the areas immediately around the trail.
What are the budget limits of the solution?
Unsure, part of our assignment is to collect information from Glencoe to create our own projected budget of the project. It is important to note that after the initial implementation phase, here is a maintenance phase that never really ends, to keep invasive species out of the areas. Look through friends of the green trail or the village.
Drainage preferences?
There is some infrastructure to help facilitate the drainage, so solutions should lean more on plans for maintenance over changing the infrastructure itself. There are some areas where water could be directed more efficiently to minimize clogging and reduce the issues.
Summary:
Following this meeting, the team was encouraged to plan an observational visit to the Green Bay Trail in Winnetka, Illinois, guided by Huels, Witty, and Dowding. The team also planned to begin meeting with the points of contact on a semi-regular basis in order to foster better communication. The meeting successfully revealed the areas that the project partners wanted to focus on, thereby reducing the scope of the project and allowing more specificity in proposed solutions. The team was also advised to split the solution into two components–hardscape and biological–with the other team assigned to the GBT beautification project. Next steps will be to research Glencoe’s renovations of their portion of the trail in order to understand the budget associated with a project of this scale and what successes and/or challenges their renovations faced that should be considered in our design solution.
Interview Type: Project Partner Interview
Interviewees: Mr. Huels, Mr. Witty, Prof. Dowding
Interviewers: Michael Richards, Jose Muniz, Vincent Pintozzi, Can Ozcan
Purpose: Gain Initial Project Partner Feedback on Mockups
Project: Green Bay Trail Beautification Project
Date: 5/3/2021
Location: Zoom
On May 3rd, 2021 at 1:30 pm, the team met virtually with the project partners to present the mockup plans and solicit initial impressions and feedback. This was performed as part of the decision making process, in order to decide the successes and shortcomings of each mockup. The meeting is transcribed below.
Mockup 1: Integrated Water Removal System
Michael presented the integrated water removal system which featured the use of permeable asphalt as a surface that can allow water to go through and into the drainage system. After presenting the mock up, our project partners had a very positive response to it by using words such as “Interesting” and “Fascinating”. Project partners expressed how they would have never thought of a solution such as this one. They did suggest we should figure out which areas we should work on given the fact that not all of the trail gets flooded. Concrete can be a material they may want to reconsider since it does crack and take a while to fix again. Professor C.H Dowding provided the team with Kelsey James Rydland’s contact information <kelsey.rydland@northwestern.edu> so that we may reach out to acquire a lidar topographic survey map of the GBT in Winnetka, IL.
Mockup 2: PictureThis!
Can presented his mockup which was talking about interactive QR codes spread out throughout the trail either under the underpasses or on signage throughout the path. These QR codes will be so users of the trail can learn about the plant species around them and also be more engaged with the trail. Project partners agreed that it was a good way to make the trail more interactive and interesting to put to test. They suggested linking QR codes to resources such as the Friends of the Green Bay Trail website or even the Winnetka Park District page. Project partners emphasized how they want the trail to be interactive and suggested that to do user testing, we can create QR code that will take users to a survey that will allow them to give feedback on the use of the QR codes.
Mockup 3: Colorfying Underpasses
Jose presented the Colorfying Underpasses mockup, which involves painting murals under the bridge underpasses. He explained that during the team’s user interview, which was conducted on April 10th when the team visited the GBT, the underpasses often get tagged with graffiti and the park district will simply paint over it recreating a blank surface for future vandalism. Jose has experience with this living in the south side of Chicago, where tagging is also a very big problem. His community has had great success with painting community murals over frequently tagged locations which not only dissuades vandalism, but adds to the beauty of the location and involves the community. Jose will be reaching out to his alderman to inquire about how it was done in Chicago. The overall reception to this proposal was very positive. Mr. Steve Huels proposed that the team should do research to figure out which bridges are best suited for this solution.
Mockup 4: Underpass Plantlife
Vincent presented the idea of adding species of plant that can survive in low light at the underpasses and to implement them either on the walls or in pots. Project partners really liked this idea and expressed how seeing this idea and the other two combined can be helpful to gain the public’s attention. They also expressed how it is indeed another way to discourage graffiti from being painted on the walls. There is a concern of other types of vandalism like breaking the pots or taking flowers out but we believe that the area won’t encourage such behaviors against the project to beautify the trail.
Summary:
Overall, the project partners were very satisfied with the team’s progress thus far and found the mockups very impressive. The general consensus was that each of the mockups were great on their own, but had synergy and may be best integrated in combination with each other in order to produce a more holistic solution to the GBT beautification project. They did raise the concern that the mockups didn’t involve creating additional access points to the trail from the street level, which is something that the team will figure out how to incorporate into the mockup plans. The final sentiment expressed in the meeting was that the GBT in Winnetka differs greatly from that in Glencoe in the sense that the trail is always either below-grade or above-grade in Winnetka, rather than at-grade in Glencoe. This creates a very unique and troubling problem in that there is a very strong likelihood that many Winnetka residents may be completely oblivious to the existence of the GBT, hidden out of sight and next to the railroad tracks, or just uninterested in it. Mr. Huels expressed that the creativity and interactive nature of these mockup plans would change this problem and begin to encourage residents to visit the trail by turning the trail into a legitimate destination to share, learn about, and experience.
In regards to the underpasses, they believed that combining the QR code, murals, and plants, can indeed make the underpasses more interactive and will give people a reason to use the trail. The project partners expressed how many of the Winnetka residents don’t even know of the trail’s existence given the fact that it is constantly moving from above grade to below grade. Adding these interactive pieces will give the people a reason to look for the trail and enjoy the trail.
Actionable next steps will be to reach out to Kelsey James Rydland, of Northwestern University, in order to obtain a topographic map of the GBT. This will become useful for identifying how to modify the existing drainage system, how to incorporate new topographic changes within the ravine, and where to incorporate access points to the street level. Once the team receives the topographic map, we will be prepared to meet with the civil engineer expert in order to receive further guidance in our design solution. The other next step the team will take is to begin contemplating renewability and sustainability with regards to the trail–especially with regards to figuring out how to deliver water to the restored areas of the trail to benefit the other team’s biological solution. In this light, the team will be able to spin what was once considered a problem–the stagnant water–into a solution–the mechanism by which the trail will be maintained.
Interview Type: Project Partner Interview
Interviewees: Mr. Huels, Mr. Witty
Interviewers: Michael Richards, Vincent Pintozzi
Purpose: Show the final design and explain next steps/final deliverables
Project: Green Bay Trail Beautification Project
Date: 5/21/2021
Location: Zoom
On May 21, 2021 at 1:30 pm, the team met virtually with the project partners to present the team’s final design, as outlined in the design freeze documentation, summarized the research and testing that led to the final design, outlined the next steps, including the planned final deliverables, and received their opinions on the team’s progress. The design freeze meeting PPT was reused from the week 8 team meeting in order to help convey the team’s ideas. The meeting is transcribed below.
Presenting the Final Design
Michael and Vincent began the meeting by outlining the team’s final design, which is composed of four phases and three tiers of cost options. Michael began explaining the mural phase of the GBT beautification project, which will beautify the stark and dreary underpasses and incorporate community identity through art. Vincent explained the plant implementation on the underpasses, which will work in conjunction with the murals to add color and life to the bare-cement structures. He explained that this phase will be especially important in order to better integrate the biological and man-made components of the trail. Vincent also outlined the QR code component of the design, which will add an interactive element to the trail by allowing users to use their phones to connect with the Friend’s of the GBT website to learn more about the native plant and animal species, fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, and more. Michael and Vincent explained that although an app was initially proposed for the QR code, the team found that a link to the FGBT website would be the most successful because not only would it be easier for users, it would also give the FGBT more attention and publicity. Finally, Michael outlined the drainage solution phase of the design, which incorporates three tiers of price options, in accordance with the advice of the civil engineer expert. These range from yearly testing and grading of the ground leading to the storm inlets, well within the outlined budget, to the full-scale implementation of a tiered retaining wall with plant beds and ADA compliant ramps to the street-level in high traffic areas, outside of the outlined budget. To give the project partners a better understanding of the research done, the test results for the plants were pulled up and Vincent explained the criteria and testing process. Then, Michael pulled up the design freeze documentation to show the project partners the initial cost and ten year maintenance costs for the design implementation.
Final Deliverables:
Michael and Vincent explained what the team will do from now until the design presentation. A website will be made to document the research, testing, and design development process leading up to the final design proposal in order to assist the project partners as they have to propose the design to the Winnetka community, city council, and the 2040 budget committee. With a website, the work the team has prepared can be easily shared with a link and will be very user-friendly to interact with. Additionally, Michael and Vincent explained that the final mockup will consist of a street-view map of the GBT with the before and after views of each component of the design solution.
Project Partner Reception/Input:
Overall, the project partners were elated with the team’s progress and felt as though the design solution will not only solve the problems they had outlined at the beginning of the quarter, but add to the community and presence of the GBT as a whole. With regards to the mural phase of the project, Mr. Huels proposed using a contest to choose the muralist for the trail, which would give more input to the Winnetka community, and also garner more publicity for the trail itself. With regards to the underpass plants, Mr. Witty informed that because the southern ends of the underpasses get almost complete sun and the northern ends get almost complete shade, there is a huge opportunity to implement a diverse array of plants along the underpass. Both Mr. Huels and Mr. Witty were thrilled with the idea of the QR code linking to the FGBT site, but noted that the website would need to be restructured to be more user-friendly and capable of hosting higher traffic. They loved the idea of a website being used to document the final report and agreed that it would make it easier to share the team’s progress with others as they work to get the GBT beautification project included in the 2040 budget committee. They also expressed that they were excited for the final mockup and were eager to set up a final meeting to see the team’s final progress in a few weeks.
Next Steps:
The project partner input will be used to complete the next steps section of the final report. The team will work to complete the final report and the final mockup in preparation for the design presentation. Additionally, Michael and Vincent will get in touch with the other team members in order to plan a final meeting time with the project partners to conclude the project and pass along the team’s documentation from the quarter.
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