The day might be coming when we’ll be driving on roads that keep our vehicle exhauses from turning into smog. The nation’s first test of this kind of pavement will take place in Missouri. .
It will involve concrete that includes a chemical turning smog into nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
Sometime next summer, drivers on Route 141 in St.Louis will be using a 1500-foot test stretch of smog-eating pavement. Titanium dioxide in the concrete will absorb smog and the sun will turn the smog into harmless gases.
The titanium dioxide is expensive so it’s only going to be used as a top layer on a standard concrete base.
Although this kind of pavement has been used in Europe, particularly in Italy, it has never been tried before anywhere in the United States. Crews will pour the section of roadway on the 19th. Monitors will be placed nearby to measure the air quality.
Interview with Drew Gates 4:22 mp3