Coverage spread: 3 sources — 3 unrated
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- Phoenix has surpassed 200 miles of “cool pavement” applied to city streets as part of its heat mitigation program.
- The reflective, titanium dioxide-based coating is designed to lower pavement surface temperatures by 10 to 12 degrees compared to regular asphalt.
- The program targets low-volume residential streets during routine maintenance and has been running since 2020.
Where they differ
- 12 News and FOX 10 report the milestone briefly with little added detail, while ABC15 provides the fullest account, including resident interviews and program history.
- ABC15 alone reports a city study finding the coating can increase radiant heat exposure for people standing on it around midday, complicating the “cooler” narrative.
- ABC15 alone notes that an earlier version of the coating peeled off in parts of the city after a 2022 storm.
- ABC15 includes on-the-ground resident reactions from Maryvale and near 67th Avenue/Lower Buckeye Road showing mixed, anecdotal results, which the other two outlets omit.
Phoenix has applied its reflective “cool pavement” coating to more than 200 miles of city streets, a milestone the city reached this week as it expands a heat-mitigation program it started in 2020. The coating, which contains titanium dioxide, reflects sunlight instead of letting asphalt absorb it, and the city says it can lower pavement surface temperatures by up to 12 degrees.
What exactly is cool pavement?
It’s a gray, reflective, asphalt-based treatment sprayed over existing residential streets during routine maintenance. The Phoenix Streets Department targets low-volume residential roads that already need resurfacing, then applies the coating on top. City officials say a single application lasts roughly eight years before it needs to be reapplied.
How much cooler does it actually make things?
The surface itself measures 10 to 12 degrees cooler than standard black asphalt, according to the city. But that doesn’t automatically translate into people feeling cooler while standing on it. A study posted on the city’s own website found that around midday, the reflective coating can actually increase the amount of radiant heat bouncing back up toward a person standing on the street, since the treated surface reflects more sunlight upward instead of absorbing it.
What are residents in treated neighborhoods noticing?
Reactions are mixed. In Maryvale, where crews applied the coating in 2025, some residents told ABC15 they didn’t notice much difference during the hottest stretch of the afternoon. But one Maryvale resident, identified only as Ronald, said he’s noticed heat doesn’t linger as long after sunset, which gives kids more time to play outside in the evening. Elsewhere, a mother of three named Trish, who lives near 67th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road, got her first coat of cool pavement this week and said she welcomes any relief, since her children struggle in the heat.
Has the coating had problems before?
Yes. In 2022, a major storm caused the coating to peel in some previously treated areas of the city, an issue ABC15 notes happened with an earlier version of the material. It’s not specified in current reporting whether the coating’s formulation has since been changed to address that durability issue.
Why is the city doing this?
Phoenix has some of the hottest summers of any major U.S. city, and officials have been searching for ways to bring down street-level temperatures where possible. The city is direct that cool pavement is not a fix for extreme heat overall — it’s one piece of a broader mitigation effort, and officials say they’re hoping that even small, incremental cooling can add up and make outdoor conditions somewhat more tolerable for residents, especially children and people outdoors during peak heat months.
How is this covered differently across outlets?
12 News and FOX 10 both frame this narrowly as a milestone announcement, focused on the 200-mile mark and the basic mechanics of how the coating reflects heat. ABC15 goes further, adding the program’s history, resident reactions from two different neighborhoods, and the caveat from the city’s own study that reflected heat can make the pavement feel hotter to people standing on it at midday, plus the note about coating failures after a 2022 storm.
Sources
Featured photo: Lightandtruth via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)