New Concrete to Let Water Pass Through It

Concrete pavements can be found anywhere in the world, and they typically cover roads and sidewalks alike. Numerous bridges, buildings, and other similar structures are also made of the stuff, but its toughness and resilience also means that it's impenetrable to anything but a well placed explosive charge. Now, experts from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, working with the Aggregate Ready Mix Association, are developing a new type of porous concrete, which will be able to let water seep through it, and thus eliminate the need for draining systems, while also retaining its strength.

Pervious concrete is not a new concept, and companies have been fiddling with it for quite some time now. The only thing missing from the mix to create it is sand, which gives the regular variety its amazing strength and density. This kind is only made up of gravel and cement, which gives it an unrivaled porous quality. A sidewalk made entirely of the stuff could, for instance, not require a draining system at the edges, as rain water wouldn't accumulate on top of it, but simply flow in the soil.

The city of Shoreview, Minnesota, placed its confidence in the new technology, and is about to install approximately one mile of pervious concrete sidewalks in the city's Lake Owasso neighborhood. Authorities in the town have a keen interest in the building technology, and, if results of the test trials are promising, the City will move towards covering even larger areas with the stuff. Shoreview Public Works Director Mark Maloney said recently that, “This is the first complete commitment to using a pervious pavement on a residential street replacement ” in the state, PhysOrg reports.

“We are completely replacing a storm drainage system with a pavement that will infiltrate” water into the ground below, the official pinpointed, and added that other cities in Minnesota, including Minneapolis, were at the moment also experimenting with the new material, but that they used it only in parking lots and other hard surfaces. In Shoreview, the $1-million bet on the new material went all the way, the City Council explained.