Sure, good pavement makes most biking easier. However, when it comes to adding trails through parks and greenspace, that pavement can prevent rainwater from naturally percolating through the soil.
There has been much discussion on porous pavements as a solution.
In fact, Brewing Chemisty is hosting such a discussion at 7pm on February 15th at the Traffic Jam and Snug. It’s a presentation on the FilterPave® Porous Paving System by David Bower, Ph.D., a Senior Research Chemist at the BASF Corporation.
The Filterpave® system provides several advances over traditional hard surface pavements which address these and other environmental issues in an attractive and cost-effective manner. It combines specially treated post-consumer recycled glass with a two component polyurethane binder to create a porous pavement that captures stormwater allowing it to slowly migrate into the soil. This nearly eliminates stormwater runoff and helps replenish the local aquifer with clean, naturally filtered water.
It does seem like this pavement could work for our trails. Not only does it allow stormwater to pass through, it uses recycled materials. The pigmentation options are an added benefit.
And trails with porous pavement don’t have puddles.
Also, if you’re still not sure what porous pavement can do, you might consider watching this interesting demo.
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