Comments on: No More Pavement! The Problem of Impervious Surfaces

By: Sally Smith

Sally Smith — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 16:12:58 +0000

I would like to comment on pervious concrete. I have yet to see what I would consider a “good pour” for walking playing, or bike riding. The material, by virtue of the fact it is all large aggregate, is unstable, wears away quickly, and poses a hazard to children playing on it. We have a 3 year-old grandson who fell on the surface bringing to light how dangerous it is compared to other surfaces. I don’t like anything about it other than the fact that it is pervious. I think the product should be perfected before we use it on our road/sidewalk surfaces. It isn’t easy or inexpensive to remove. I challenge the concrete association to come up with a more workable product.

By: Dewita

Dewita — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:00:26 +0000

Great article! Info is easy to understand and inspiring. Hopefully once people understand the problem we have in cities, they’ll take action. At a minimum within their household, community.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:50:23 +0000

Good article, but I think one could make the case for truly dense and walkable urban development as the panacea. The enemy is not cities but the suburbs. A stronger distinction needs to be made when you talk about ‘urban’. No properly functioning city would have vast parking lots. Properly functioning cities make it more convenient to bike, walk or take public transportation.To cite an extreme example, Manhattan, has 1.6 million people on 23 square miles. Now no one would argue that Manhattan is pretty much a dead zone biologically, but the net impact of 1.6 million people spread apart by 4 lane highways and endless parking lots, moving about in their personal oil spewing pods is infinitely worse for the planet.

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:14:33 +0000

God forbid you be uncomfortable on your bike for the sake of the planet and animal health, Mike K.
Besides, bike paths are a mere 3 feet or so wide. Bike paths wouldn’t be an issue if they were surrounded by a permeable surface.

By: Mike K

Mike K — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:38:50 +0000

Most of it is good, but the only thing is that cyclists really hate depaved roads and cobblestone-type pavement like in the second to last picture. It’s quite uncomfortable to ride on!

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:50:09 +0000

so I have a question
why do you americans build these cities with just concrete blocks everywhere and no visible grass

WTF WHY?
In America you can’t even get away from all these discusting buildings. If you try to drive out of the city you’ll still find about a thousand huge McDonalds signs and then thousands of McDonalds,Wendies and what not discusting places all in their own f***ing building

common

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:28:27 +0000

Great article – thanks for pointing out the damages caused by impervious surfaces.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with recycled glass porous pavement over the last year. 100% post-consume material combined with a safe two-part epoxy.

The result is a beautiful surface, durable as traditional asphalt/concrete, that is completely permeable.

The epoxy also forms covalent bonds with hydrocarbons – if you pour an oily gallon of water through the pavement, only the water comes out on the other side.