Cool pavement or not, LA residents still feel the heat

CANOGA PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A few weeks ago, the city of Los Angeles installed a new type of asphalt sealant on a street in Canoga Park designed to keep the surface a little cooler - and therefore more comfortable for neighborhood residents.

This week's heat wave is the perfect opportunity to test out the result.

Eyewitness News spoke to neighborhood residents about the cool pavement.

So, is it any cooler?

"No it's not. I feel like it's 100 and something right now," said Debbie Corleto of Canoga Park.

An infrared thermometer measured the temperature at noon on the cool pavement at 136 degrees and on nearby untreated asphalt at 140 degrees.

While it did measure cooler, most residents said they couldn't really notice the difference. Cool pavement or not - it was still a sweltering day.

"I feel like recently it's been so hot. You just have to take the kids to indoor activities now. You can't even go to the parks anymore. It's way too hot to take them out," said Stephanie Aguilar of Canoga Park.

The gray seal was installed on a 10,000-square-foot stretch of Jordan Avenue in Canoga Park as part of a city pilot project.

It has since been placed in other neighborhoods, including 70th Street in South Los Angeles and Etiwanda Avenue in the northern San Fernando Valley. Ultimately the city plans to place it on streets in all 15 City Council districts.

In the valleys and high desert, temperatures hovered around the triple digits on Tuesday and the heat is expected to continue through the first day of summer, Wednesday.

RELATED: See the latest weather forecast from ABC7

To help people stay cool, the city of Los Angeles is keeping cooling centers open until 10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.