City government is reconsidering the feasibility of using colored surfaces on local streets after discovering that fallen leaves were sticking to test roads following rain showers.
"The government will be very careful using colored road surfaces," Wu Yulian, an official with the Shanghai Engineering Administrative Bureau, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
She said the leaf problem occurred on two newly paved test sections of Xinhua Road after a rain storm.
As a result, the city has asked a group of engineering experts to study why the leaves are so hard to remove.
Compared with cement or asphalt, these orange and green road surfaces use special minerals to provide added friction and divide traffic lanes.
Late last month, China Specialist Surfacing Ltd - a UK-invested company - provided free technology to pave one section of Yan'an Road W. and two sections of Xinhua Road in Changning District with the new material.
City officials said that if the tests were successful, the city would consider expanding the use of the material across town.
"The government hasn't decided whether to adopt the British technology in an extensive manner," said Wu of the engineering bureau.
Meanwhile, representatives of CSS argued that the leaves are not actually stuck to the road and can be swept away with the proper sanitation method.