Simon Wade
RED-HOT pavements can be a danger to both children and pets, as summer temperatures spike in Spain.
Vienna-based animal welfare charity Four Paws International, warns that an asphalt temperature of 52°C is enough to harm the sensitive padded paws of pets.
Alarmingly, that threshold can be reached with an air temperature of just 25°C.
Murcia’s Life Heatland project has teamed up with construction company CHM – also based in the region – to reduce the burning effect, through the use of ‘cool pavements’.
The walkways are made of a new composition of asphalt, which stores much less solar energy than traditional pavements.
Their lighter colour also provides the added bonus of improved visibility at night.
This also improves traffic and pedestrian safety, as well as limiting the need for energy-sapping street-lamps.
The company has already trialled the asphalt across seven of Murcia’s streets, with results being monitored for three months.
Measurements show that the new pavements were between seven and 11°C cooler, on average.
Research shows that the lighter colour of the new asphalt has increased the luminosity of streets by 150%.
CHM also claims that smaller aggregates used to make the compound mean less tyre-wear and consequently, less tyre noise and less pollution.
And for the dogs of Murcia – far fewer burned paws.
Click here for first aid advice and information on hot asphalt and dogs’ paws
