PHOENIX — Arizona's extreme, consistent triple-digit heat is debilitating, but Leslie Rachels is enjoying her shaded front porch and the cool pavement in front of her home.
“I did notice a big difference,” Rachels said. “Especially when walking my dogs. I always check the pavement and so I felt better taking them out."
In 2021, the Phoenix Street Transportation Department, Office of Sustainability, and Arizona State University finished their first year of the Cool Pavement Pilot Program.
They found reflective pavement surface temperatures are considerably lower than traditional roadway pavement.
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But according to a report in Bloomberg’s Citylab, it's possible someone could feel several degrees warmer on cool pavement versus asphalt.
At 12:12 p.m. on Thursday, ABC15 used a heat gun to compare cool pavement, driveways, and home exterior temperatures.
The cool pavement read 154 degrees, the exterior of a home read 115 degrees, and a driveway read 144 degrees.
ABC15’s test matches with the City of Phoenix's findings.
"Heat exposure at noon and the afternoon hours was 5.5 degrees higher due to surface reflectivity," according to its website.
The City of Phoenix goes on to say: "Cool pavement revealed lower surface temperatures at all times of the day versus traditional asphalt."
When we requested an on-camera interview with the Street Transportation Department, they replied, “We believe you would be best served by speaking with a scientific expert."
They referred us to an Arizona State University professor.
This week, we spoke with David Hondula, one of the original Cool Pavement Project Team ASU professors.
Hondula talked about the pros and cons of cool pavement saying, "We've been working very hard with our research partners to communicate, where Cool Pavement might not make the most sense."
"Is cool pavement anywhere near the top of my list for strategies that can prevent heat-associated deaths? Absolutely not,” Hondula said. “Could cool pavement be an effective strategy to protect city infrastructure over the long term? Possibly."
Ladd Keith, the University of Arizona assistant professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments, says more research is needed.
"There's no such thing as a silver bullet,” Keith explained. “We are experimenting, we, as researchers, the views are experimenting with cool pavement products. Some of them that are too reflective, of course, can reflect that heat back on people in houses during the hottest times of day."
Keith continued, “Looking at the impacts to people and homes and businesses before they go all out and kind of repave all of the streets or put the product on everywhere."
The Phoenix Streets Department is working to complete 18 more miles of Cool Pavement by the end of the year.