Columbia, South Carolina, is one of six selected in 2016 for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greening America’s Communities (GAC) program, through which it will technical assistance to implement sustainable design strategies.
Through the program, an EPA-funded team of designers will visit Columbia to create designs, a plan and implementation process to create a green walkway through the Capital City Mill District, which will protect an urban stream.
“EPA is excited to roll up our sleeves and start working with the next round of cities through Greening America’s Communities,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said. “This program is another example of EPA making a visible difference in communities — helping build healthy, vibrant neighborhoods and stronger local economies centered on environmental sustainability.”
Other cities selected for this round of the program include Brownsville, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Muscatine, Iowa; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Multnomah County, Oregon. The EPA will dispatch design teams to each of these locations as well, helping those communities make their neighborhoods more walkable, bikeable and vibrant through sustainable design like green infrastructure.
The program, previously called Greening America’s Capitals, has implemented sustainable designs in 24 cities across the country, including bike lanes in Phoenix, Arizona, and improving the historic Selma to Montgomery Trail in Montgomery, Alabama.
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