D.C. is testing out a new method to try to cool down some of the city’s hottest neighborhoods.
D.C. Department of Transportation crews were out Tuesday morning applying a light colored, solar-reflective coating on Half Street SW, one of five areas the city designated as “urban heat islands.”
Fewer trees and a lot of pavement in those areas of D.C. cause the asphalt to absorb more heat, raising the air temperature by as much as 10 to 15 degrees higher than nearby rural areas on hot summer days, DDOT said.
Crews began applying the “cool pavement” coating on some city streets in late July as part of a pilot program.
“It’s a relatively simple idea that has a large impact. So by putting on a lighter coating, it can reduce the temperatures by about 20°,” DDOT Director Sharon Kershbaum told News4.
“Why would it work? Well, it reflects sunlight so for obvious reasons sunlight doesn’t get absorbed into the black asphalt pavement. So it keeps the temperatures down for the whole neighborhood,” said Paul Casto with Alternative Paving Concepts.
DDOT said it’s testing out three different types of cool pavement material to see which works best. They’re also looking to see which material holds up best in the winter months.
“All the studies that we’ve done so far have been demonstrated in arid regions, right, which is like really hot throughout the year. Whereas D.C., we have four climates, right? So we’ve never really tested what happens when you have salt and snow in the winter. So our study will add that extra data point,” said Nepolina Chhetri, the strategic project engineer???
