What bothered the most about highways in California is that they're built out of discrete concrete slabs that don't join smoothly. Want to read a book or look at your phone? Lolno, infinite vibrations. Why not use asphalt? Can't we make asphalt that remains solid at Californian temperatures?
Concrete will outlast asphalt for decades and has a higher load strength. Niriel probably lives in a area with much greater semi truck traffic than matthewg. Both concrete and asphalt are here in LA county, but concrete is slowly replacing the asphalt.
It uses rain water that is collected by rain water drains. Civilized countries have two sewer systems, one for rain and one for the dirty water. Rain water is easily cleaned and recycled.
I'm not arguing about the way it's done, I think it's silly to spend money on making something like this when the proceeds could be used to help with clean drinking water. The money can be used anywhere. It's not even cleaning the whole street, and you would still need to sweep the streets.
Rainwater is drinking water. Drinking water is used to clean the streets. Lead, rubber, dirt and tar dust contaminate the drinking water. It's now dirtywater and gets dumped in the ocean. Hurray for the infinite supply of clean water! ...wait a second...
I've never understood why people seem to think it's necessary to clean a street. I mean sure, pick up the trash and whatnot, but why would you need to actually WASH the street?
Not washing a street won't magically make it unsafe. California has the highest traffic rates in the world and we have never washed a single road. I'm thinking it was politician fearmongering that lead to water being wasted like this.
Here's a crazy idea. Don't trash your own streets.
It's all asphalt where I am (central valley).