Turning roads white for a cooler future.

In recent discussions over the road surface for King William Road I pushed at every opportunity that Council investigate and consider as an option white bitumen. At a conference I attended in 2017 I listened to a very interesting presentation on the installation of this product in a city in NSW. But my suggestion was to no avail and the preferred surface is currently brick pavers.
I read in the Sunday Mail this morning of a trial in Charles Sturt and Salisbury of a road cooling coating that has been applied in selected streets. The coating can be up to 15 degrees cooler than untreated bitumen. It is not surprising that on a recent 41C day that  the bitumen was 53C, fake turf 64C, concrete path 52C, paving 65C (31C when shaded by trees), rubber matting commonly used in playgrounds was 65C. On the other had irrigated grass was only 21C. The Councils are hoping that the cooler road will result in cooler homes that need less artificial cooling and their gardens will require less water. More information can be found here.
I was reminded of just how hot fake turf gets when my little granddaughter was playing on the Glenelg foreshore this morning. The fake grass on the upside of the slide was a pleasant temperature when she began the first climb, just 5 climbs later I had to pick her up to prevent her feet from burning.