The City of Germantown is located in Shelby County, Tennessee.  As a suburb of Memphis, Germantown offers a premier residential environment for citizens to live, work, and play.  Among its many attributes, Germantown is known for providing a healthy, attractive, and safe community for all. To further their commitment to residents, the City of Germantown set out to design and construct a roadway that would allow motorists to travel east and west uninterrupted from the I-240/Walnut Grove area to Eastern Shelby County. Furthermore, the goal of this roadway was to be a landmark Green Infrastructure project with minimal impact to the adjacent aquatic systems and wildlife habitats, as well as to promote wildlife habit connectivity.

SSR began work on the Wolf River Blvd Connector in January of 2011. We provided Construction Engineering and Inspection services in accordance with Appendix C, Roadway and Bridge Field Construction Procedures, in the TDOT “Local Government Guidelines for the Management of Federal and State Funded Transportation Projects.” Construction of the final segment of Wolf River Boulevard consisted of approximately two miles of four lane roadway with shoulders, two bridges, five oversized box culverts to encourage critter crossing, one pedestrian underpass, and two new traffic signalized intersections. This segment runs from Kimbrough Road to Farmington Boulevard, with signalization at each terminus.

This project was extremely unique due to its location in a sensitive wetland ecosystem. Thus affording SSR the opportunity to pursue Audubon International Silver Signature certification. The program requirements included the integration of wildlife conservation, habitat restoration and enhancement, water conservation and water quality protection, and additional areas of environmental protection throughout the project.  The SSR team attended an Audubon training session prior to the start of construction.  One example of our involvement included facilitating the correct installation and maintenance of erosion/ sediment controls and a storm water management system. Wolf River Boulevard is the first Audubon-certified road in the world.  In addition, this project has since been recognized locally and nationally by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) with engineering excellence awards.

After 45 years of planning, thousands of residents and visitors are now able to walk, bike, and drive along the naturally maintained Wolf River Boulevard. In addition, it serves as a sanctuary for native plants and wildlife as well as a natural filter for cleaning storm water.  The Wolf River Boulevard connector was completed in August 2013 at a construction cost of $19.7 million.