Typical application for permeable paving include industrial and commercial parking lots, sidewalks, pedestrian, and bike trails, driveways, residential access roads, and emergency and facility maintenance  roads. Highways and other high traffic load roads have not yet been considered appropriate for permeable paving system, but porous asphalt has been successfully used in a highway application.


 Different families of permeable paving materials present distinctive advantages and disadvantages for specific applications. Here are examples:

1. Pervious concrete
Pervious concrete is widely available, can bear frequent traffic, and is universally accessible. Pervious concrete quality depends on the installer's knowledge and experience.

2. Porous asphalt
Porous asphalt is mixed at conventional asphalt plants, but fine (small) aggregate is omitted from the mixture. The remaining large, single-sized aggregate particles leave open voids that give the material its porosity and permeability. Under the porous asphalt surface is a base course of further single-sized aggregate. Porous asphalt surfaces are being used on highways to improve driving safety by removing water from the surface.

3. Single-sized aggregate
Single-sized aggregate without any binder, e.g. loose gravel, stone-chippings, is the most permeable paving material in existence, and the least expensive. Although it can only be safely used in very low-speed, low-traffic settings, e.g. car-parks and drives, potential cumulative benefit across large areas is great.

4. Porous turf
Porous turf, if properly constructed, can be used for occasional parking like that at churches and stadiums. Plastic turf reinforcing grids can be used to support the increased load. Living turf transpires water, actively counteracting the "heat island" with what appears to be a green open lawn.

5. Open-jointed blocks
Open-jointed blocks are concrete or stone units with open, permeable spaces between the units. They give an architectural appearance, and can bear surprisingly heavy traffic, particularly interlocking concrete pavers, excepting high-volume or high-speed roads. Some products are polymer-coated and entirely porous face.

6. Resin bound paving
Resin bound paving is a mixture of resin binder and aggregate. Clear resin is used to fully coat each aggregate particle before laying. Enough resin is used to allow each aggregate particle to adhere to one another and to the base yet leave voids for water to permeate through. Resin bound paving provides a strong and durable surface that is suitable for pedestrian and vehicular traffic in applications such as pathways, driveways, car parks and access roads.

7. Bound recycled glass porous pavement
Bound recycled glass porous pavement consisting of bonding processed post consumer glass with a mixture of resins, pigments, and binding agents. The product provides a permeable paving material that also reuses materials that would otherwise be disposed in landfills. Approximately 75 percent of glass in the U.S. is disposed in landfills.