A Critical Review of Permeable Asphalt Behavior and Performance to Guide Application to Arterial Streets in Cold Climates

The purpose of this review paper is to summarize the literature on the behavior and performance of permeable asphalt (PA), examine the feasibility of applying PA to arterial streets in cold climates, and present recommendations to improve the success of PA in wider applications. The review presented here required examining existing data sources and scientific journal papers, along with interviewing professionals who have conducted studies or dealt with PA in a variety of locations. The conclusions and recommendations drawn from this evaluation are intended to be guidelines for agencies looking to potentially apply PA to arterial streets in cold climate regions. Literature selected for review included PA sites that had several of the following characteristics: high volume traffic, cold climate region, abundant annual snowfall and extreme average temperatures, used sand, salt, plows, and deicers in winter maintenance activities, and experienced studded snow tires. In addition, sites reviewed also had subgrade soils with adequate infiltration rates, deep groundwater, relatively little annual precipitation, and area frost depths of 24 in. below finished grade. It was not possible to have each case study reviewed address all criteria, but all of these factors were considered important to the review to provide accurate literature comparison, and they allowed us to ascertain and present general behavior and patterns regarding PA. In addition, a summary of recommendations on the application of PA to arterial streets in cold climates with respect to water quality treatment performance, hydrologic performance, materials and durability, and maintenance practices are also presented.