ABOUT EXECUTION OF THE HASUDA SERVICE AREA ENVIRONMENT PAVEMENT BY THE WATER SUPPLY TYPE

Abstract

One of the major environmental issues we face today is global warming, and specifically, an urban heat island phenomenon. The Japan Highway Public Corporation has made many attempts to mitigate this problem by creating environmentally-friendly parking and service areas. For the first time in Japan, a water-retentive pavement consisting of a ground granulated blast-furnace slag with embedded water supply equipment was implemented in the Hasuda service area of the Tohoku Expressway. The result is a pavement surface temperature that is consistently at least 10 degrees lower than it would be with ordinary pavement. The cooling effects vary according to water supply methods and the ratio of retained water.