TR News: Research Pays Off: State Water Quality Requirements Addressed Via an Innovative Pavement

The Texas Department of Transportation had a rare opportunity to investigate how pavement type affects the quality of stormwater runoff, something that is often difficult to address in the limited space available in highway rights-of-way. The research showed that roadways paved with permeable friction course/open-graded friction course (PFC/OGFC) produced runoff with substantially reduced concentrations of solids, phosphorus, and metals compared with conventional pavement.

The findings are detailed in a Research Pays Off feature titled "State Water Quality Requirements Addressed Via an Innovative Pavement," by Michael Barrett of the University of Texas at Austin. The article appears in TR News magazine, Number 328, July-August 2020.