Evaluating the Performance of Cool Pavement in San Antonio, Texas, as an Urban Heat Mitigation Measure
Neil Debbage, Wei Zhai, Esteban López, Ryun Jung Lee, Allison Pineda, Emma Jones, Tabytha Clearwater, Sam Rueda, Tyler Pursch, Jasmine Renteria, Matt Kenney
Abstract
Abstract The City of San Antonio initiated a cool pavement pilot program in 2023 as a strategy to potentially mitigate extreme heat. The program evaluated three different cool pavement products (SolarPave, PlusTi, and Durashield) at six locations across the city. Meteorological data, including surface temperature, air temperature, wet-bulb globe temperature, mean radiant temperature, albedo, and radiation fluxes, were collected during the summer of 2023 at the cool pavement sites and representative control sites. Two-sample t tests were used to evaluate the differences between the cool pavement and control sites. The results highlighted the varying effectiveness of different cool pavement products. The SolarPave product consistently displayed statistically significant differences in surface temperature, as the cool pavement was on average 2°C lower during the afternoon. The Durashield product also exhibited lower surface temperatures in the afternoon, but the differences were not statistically significant. The afternoon surface temperature differences for the PlusTi product were inconsistent. The impact on air temperature and wet-bulb globe temperature for all the cool pavement products was modest. There were instances where air temperature and wet-bulb globe temperature were both statistically significantly lower and higher at the cool pavement sites relative to the controls, but the small differences were largely inconclusive since they often fell within the range of the sensor uncertainty. Overall, the findings generally aligned with research from Phoenix and Los Angeles, which has documented the potential for cool pavement to reduce surface temperatures while highlighting a negligible to modest impact on air temperatures.