Using Rain-Garden Bands for Rainwater Drainage from Roads

Rainwater drainage is one of the most critical components of traffic safety, especially for environment-friendly vehicles. Water adds slipperiness, makes two-wheel transport less stable, and short-circuits one-person electric vehicles. Rainwater drainage is very expensive and needs continuous maintenance. It can be designed as separate storm-water inlets absorbing water non-evenly. Better results give more expensive linear rainwater inlet, which requires more maintenance. Climate changes and aging cause inadequacy of the systems even in highly-developed countries. One of the examples is in "Servant" TV series, USA (season 1, episode 6): "The sewage pipes in center city are over of hundred years old and today is a day they finally say "enough is enough!". The problem is especially actual for Ukraine after the Russian war. The reconstruction requires massive work in finance lack. The most natural city-sponge concept is the better and cheaper solution, almost avoiding engineering systems. It uses sponge facilities – rain gardens, permeable pavements, green roofs, etc. This article described a new solution for even quick water absorption from roads – rain-garden bands. This solution also can dampen vehicles' energy during road accidents. Thus, it is possible to use the single-level road without elevated sidewalks. Also, we explain how we can extend this solution for two- or three-level roads with high bike lanes and sidewalks, which damps the energy of water falling to the lower level avoiding soil erosion and allowing wider plant assortment.