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Phoenix streets paved with 'Cool Pavement' peel after weekend rain. The city explains why

The city released a statement as to what the problem was and how they're addressing it.

PHOENIX — It's a road paved with the best of intentions. A Phoenix street coated with "Cool Pavement" started peeling after last weekend's rains. 

RELATED: Phoenix sets new rainfall record after Saturday's storms 

The street near 15th Avenue and Encanto Boulevard is being cleaned up after the rainfall, and residents tell 12News that what happened was definitely unexpected.

Peeling, chipping and flaking, residents like Dinorah Metz and her husband, Brian, say they were surprised by the mess they saw.

"I came home, and I told him, 'have you seen our street?'" Dinorah said. "I went out, and suddenly, I saw something weird, like a crackle, finish on the pavement. I was like, 'what is that?' and I kept going down the street, and it was all over the street."

Their street is coated with "Cool Pavement," a sealant mixture of water, asphalt, and other fillers which reflect sunlight to help lower temperatures.

Since 2020, it's been applied to 73 miles of road in 17 neighborhoods. So far, this area, around 15th Avenue and Encanto, is the only one to be damaged, and officials know why.

In a statement, the city said: 

"The Phoenix Street Transportation Department is working to address an issue with the Cool Pavement seal coat that was recently applied to neighborhood streets in the area between 17th and 15th avenues and McDowell Road to Encanto Boulevard. Since the Cool Pavement Program began in 2020, 73 miles in 17 neighborhoods and one parking lot in one city park have been treated. None of those other locations have experienced this issue. In summer 2022, the department applied a seal coat treatment in this area that failed to properly adhere to the roadway. To fix that issue, in fall 2022, a contactor retreated those streets with a different seal coat product that had been applied with positive results in other citywide locations. The mixture of those two products, and this weekend’s rain event, unfortunately caused the coating to peel off the roadway. City staff has an initial cleanup underway using street sweepers and is working to find a permanent solution. Communication with the affected residents is underway. The cool pavement material is a water-based, non-toxic product. It is not paint. It is an emulsion made of water, asphalt, polymers and filler minerals that are bonded together."  

"Maybe it was timing with the rain?" said Brian. "They put it down a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it hadn't cured or something."

The city is now trying to fix it quickly, and residents have taken notice.

"It was great," said Dinorah.

"The day it happened, they were out here looking at it, sweepers were cleaning it all up, and they're still doing it," said Brian.

And as work continues on a permanent solution, neighbors hope the third time will be the charm and the next coating will stick around.

"I'm not looking forward to having the street closed again," said Dinorah. "But I understand why, and hopefully, this time, it'll stay. It'll be good."

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