June 7, 1999

Kinston paves the (alternative)
way for water quality

A special parking lot in Kinston will provide scientists, engineers and local leaders a research and demonstration site that focuses on reducing stormwater pollution.

Bill Hunt, Extension specialist, second from left, discusses the benefits of alternative pavment blocks. Pictured with him are, from left, Beth Royal, N.C. State civil engineering student; Scott Stevens, Kinston city engineer; Julie Wade, Goldsboro assistant planner; and Mike Regans, area agent of the Neuse Education Team.

The alternative materials the Allies used to disguise aircraft runways in World War II saw another use recently when the city of Kinston installed an alternative-paving site at the Neuse Nature Center.

The site will serve as a demonstration parking lot that engineers, architects, planners, contractors and the general public can visit. They will be able to see whether the pavements can carry the load without cracking under the weight of tires and remain still permeable, allowing water to soak into the ground and not run off into waterways.

U.S. military troops used turfstone during World War II in their island campaigns to transform grassy stretches into airplane strips, said Bill Hunt, Extension specialist at North Carolina State University.

Traditional pavement consists of asphalt or concrete. Each is very impervious, producing lots of runoff water when it rains. Alternative pavement, while not quite as strong, allows some rainfall to pass through the surface into the ground, sending it along a more "filtered" route to the Neuse River.

Not all pavement areas need to be as strong as asphalt or concrete. Alternative pavement materials include concrete blocks with open holes, plastic matrixes filled with washed stone and hard plastic materials filled with soil. These materials allow water to filter through the ground, reducing runoff. Reducing stormwater runoff keeps streams cleaner because less soil erodes into the water and fewer pollutants enter the waters.

"Most developers have not considered using this type of pavement because they have yet to see it work in real-world conditions," says Hunt."This research and demonstration site will provide those conditions."

In addition to the research and demonstration potential of the Kinston site, Hunt explains that this project shows North Carolina State University at its best.

"This project embodies the spirit of a land-grant institution: teaching, research and extension. Civil engineering students used this site as a senior design project. The porous pavement parking lot was brought to the people -- in this case the city of Kinston -- by Cooperative Extension, and now the department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering will monitor runoff reduction," Hunt says.

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For information about the use of alternative pavement, contact Bill Hunt, (919) 515-6751.

--A. Fisher