{"id":544057,"date":"2026-01-26T12:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/544057\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:31:10","slug":"phoenix-pushes-forward-with-cool-pavement-despite-mixed-results-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/544057\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix pushes forward with cool pavement despite mixed results"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX (InvestigateTV<\/a>) \u2014 How hot can pavement get as temperatures rise during the hottest months of the year? <\/p>\n

In Phoenix, pavement temperatures have been measured in recent years at above 150 degrees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the city is trying to be proactive, installing a specific chemical coating on the roads that\u2019s designed to reflect heat<\/a>. <\/p>\n

However, cool pavement is more expensive and has had mixed results, according to an investigation by our sister station.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Despite that, the city is moving forward with the program. To date, the city has installed more than 140 miles.<\/p>\n

Last summer, crews prepared a stretch of road off 19th Avenue, south of Camelback Road, to put down cool pavement.<\/p>\n

The city paused the program in 2024<\/a>, citing issues with the product it was using. They\u2019ve since partnered with another company and are using two different coatings.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we\u2019re catching up and getting back on track,\u201d Ryan Stevens, an engineering manager with the city of Phoenix<\/a>, said. He continued to tout the benefits.<\/p>\n

Our investigators started looking into this back in 2023. On a hot July day, using a heat gun, the asphalt was 153 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool pavement came in at 144 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

But ASU\u2019s research found that six feet off the ground, the air temperature was only 0.3 degrees cooler<\/a> during the day and only half a degree cooler at night. That study also found that the light reflected off the road makes it hotter for pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the price. The city said it is three times as expensive as the traditional coating. Our investigators also found questions about how it\u2019s wearing.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the team stopped by five different locations that had been treated with it over the last four years. \u201cWe\u2019re always monitoring performance,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

He explained it should last eight years. There\u2019s also another benefit; the city says the cooler surface temperature<\/a> better protects what\u2019s under the road. \u201cA lot of people are excited that the city is doing something to address urban heat,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

Neighbors the team spoke with weren\u2019t exactly excited. \u201cIt\u2019s an incremental change. I don\u2019t really have any problem with it,\u201d Brian Curry said. His road has had cool pavement for several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that I really noticed a difference. It does make the street look nicer,\u201d his neighbor, Sophia Sanchez, said.<\/p>\n

The city said it would continue to install cool pavement through the end of September, but it couldn\u2019t provide specifics on how many miles that would be.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Gray Media. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (InvestigateTV) \u2014 How hot can pavement get as temperatures rise during the hottest months of the year?…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":544058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,52241,1587,52238,52244,52243,9366,1589,52242,52240,17541,52239,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-544057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-asu-study","tag-az","tag-cool-pavement","tag-different-coating","tag-mixed-results","tag-pedestrians","tag-phoenix","tag-reflect-heat","tag-summer-weather","tag-temperatures","tag-triple-digit-heat","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115961415915847796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}