National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

Urban heat island (UHI) is a phenomenon resulting from urbanization. Urbanization describes the process of transforming the natural landscape into one suited for human habitation and secondly the increase in the proportion of the people living in densely populated areas. These changes to the landscape result in a difference in the equivalent temperatures of the city and the surrounding natural (non-urbanized) area. Similar to other areas experiencing the impact of UHI, the City of Phoenix and its surrounding communities have experienced extensive economic growth and land use development in the last several decades. Natural landscapes have been replaced by roadways, buildings, and other new infrastructure. ADOT and the MAG are considering how to maintain their existing freeway pavements and the influence of different pavement surfaces on the UHI is of interest. Specifically, the region must decide whether to continue the use of rubberized asphalt or replace it with an alternative treatment.