( CNN ) -- A small town in Maryland is setting a precedent in eco-friendly road construction , breaking ground this week on one of the greenest streets in the nation . The tiny port town of Edmonston in Prince George 's County is billing the thoroughfare as the greenest on the East Coast . The road will help clean and filter toxic storm water pollution that drains into rivers , and eventually into Chesapeake Bay . `` What we 're hoping to do , from top to bottom , is build a street that is completely environmentally sustainable , `` said Edmonston Mayor Adam Ortiz . Ortiz says the blueprint incorporates native tree cover to cool off the streets , wind-powered street lights that use high-efficiency LED bulbs , and pedestrian and bicycle access . But most important , says Ortiz , is the plan for all that water that rolls down the streets when it rains . `` [ It 's ] not going to be flushed into our local rivers . Instead it 's going to be naturally filtered . And that 's very important for us to save our rivers and to help save the Chesapeake Bay here in Maryland . '' Storm water runoff often carries toxins and pollution from parking lots and city streets , and from farms and agricultural lands in rural areas . Most cities and towns have underground concrete drain systems that collect the runoff and dump it into rivers and streams , pollutants and all . `` What we 're going to do , instead , is divert that water into natural gardens . To the naked eye it just looks like a regular garden , but actually it 's very specially engineered to absorb a lot of water and naturally filter it before it gets into the water table , and to keep it from washing all those pollutants into the river , '' according to Ortiz . The storm water runoff in Edmonston drains into the nearby Anacostia River , which feeds into the Washington Channel , then empties into the Potomac River and eventually Chesapeake Bay . The eco-street project includes using porous bricks in building the road and creating bioretention cells or rain gardens . The idea is to trap the polluted runoff water , sending it through natural filter systems so that when it makes it into the Anacostia , it 's a lot cleaner . Maryland Department of the Environment Deputy Secretary Robert Summers hopes this new main street in Edmonston is just the first of many . `` This kind of green infrastructure project to reduce storm water and energy consumption is exactly the kind of thing we need to do around the bay watershed to reduce pollution . '' Summers says the benefits of this project are twofold : a reduction in storm water pollution and , through the energy efficiency in powering lighting , a reduction in air pollution and fallout . But how much can converting one street really help in cleaning up an area the size of the Chesapeake Bay ? Summers acknowledges this is just the beginning . `` We need to grow it by leaps and bounds . '' The Edmonston green street project is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency through a $ 1.1 million Recovery Act grant . Summers says the state of Maryland has already allocated $ 20 million for other green projects and that this is the first of many projects . The District of Columbia , Virginia , and Pennsylvania are also reviewing this green technology to eventually help do their part to clean up Chesapeake Bay . And in the Northwest , Seattle , Washington , and Portland , Oregon , have already taken steps to clean and control polluted storm water runoff . `` Our goal is that other towns and cities and communities will steal our ideas , '' Edmonston Mayor Ortiz said . `` We 'll know we 're successful when we see these technologies used in other places . ''
New road will help clean storm water runoff that drains into rivers , Chesapeake Bay . Road will divert water into natural gardens designed to filter water . Plan also uses native tree cover to cool streets , solar - powered street lights . Project aims to reduce storm water pollution , air pollution , damage to the environment , official says .