A Survey of Agencies on Mitigating Extreme Heat Exposure through Novel Materials and Improved Pedestrian Infrastructure Design

This is the dataset of the National Center of Sustainable Transportation (NCST) project titled A Survey of Agencies on Mitigating Extreme Heat Exposure through Novel Materials and Improved Pedestrian Infrastructure Design.

The abstract of the project is as follows:

Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related mortality in the United States, and extreme heat events are projected to continue increase in geographic extent, frequency, and severity in the United States as climate change progresses.  Transportation infrastructure is a significant driver of the urban heat island (UHI) effects and of extreme heat events within micro-environments.  Efforts to mitigate UHI impacts often focus on reflecting incoming solar radiation (i.e., increasing surface albedo) and providing shade (e.g., planting street trees).  However, alterative and novel materials (ANM) for pavements that reduce heat storage, and green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) that promotes evaporative cooling, can provide additional heat mitigation pathways.  Sidewalks facilitate non-motorized transportation, and are relatively low-risk, low-cost, and have simple structural requirements compared to other transportation infrastructure.  Hence, sidewalks and adjacent planting strips can offer a logical test bed for new materials and designs.  With the thermal comfort, safety, and efficiency of users in mind, environmentally responsible designs can also minimize energy embedded in construction materials and help maintain natural ecosystem processes.  Although ANMs hold significant promise for heat effect mitigation, they have not yet achieved widespread implementation.  This project reviewed the growing literature related to the application of ANMs and GSI to reduce UHI effects and implemented a survey of urban planners and public works engineers to assess the current and planned use of these strategies.  The survey also asked respondents to identify barriers to implementing heat mitigation strategies within their pedestrian infrastructure systems.  This report summarizes the survey methods, survey results, findings related to selection of mitigation alternatives, and respondent-reported issues associated with implementation (regulatory requirements, design standards, economic feasibility, etc.) for an anticipated reading audience of urban policy makers, planners, and practitioners.