Peel Region to chronicle recycled aggregate use in roads

In what may be the first-of-its-kind imitative in the province, Peel Region intends to fully chronicle its use of recycled aggregates in road construction from concept to finish to post-completion review.

A recently formed working group comprised of a wide range of representatives from the region, the Ministry of Transportation, engineering firms, the aggregate industry and other stakeholders will be publishing “A Practitioners Guide to the Use of Recycled Aggregate.”

Three road construction projects, two of which will start later this year, will provide the data for the guide.

They include the south portion of Porterfield Road in Caledon where in-place road surface and base aggregate recycling will be used and the reconstruction of the parking lot of the Fewster Community Recycling Centre in Mississauga using recycled concrete material.

The third project, which commences in 2014, will be the expansion of the Gore Road in Brampton from Castlemore Road to Countryside Drive. Recycled concrete material will be used in the road base.

Every aspect of the three projects will be documented ranging from the design, the procurement process and the volume and type of recycled aggregates to the number of trucks used to transport the materials to the road construction sites, says Rick Nesbitt, technical analyst with the region’s public works department.

In construction once the job is done the various people involved in the project “move on and tend to forget all the details,” says Nesbitt, in emphasizing the importance of the guide.

Scheduled for completion in 2014, “it will be readable document that will be written from a Peel perspective. But I think it will be useful to other municipalities.”

Criss-crossed by several expressways and the home of Pearson International Airport and several intermodal trucking facilities, the region is a major transportation hub with “approximately $1.2 billion worth of goods trucked daily on our roads.”

Peel has long been at the forefront in “designing and building roads for maximum lifespan and minimum maintenance, using quality construction materials and methods” to meet that demand, he says. But the region also realized the need for a forum which would bring together leading experts from the aggregate industry, engineers, and governments to explore best practices and share experiences, says Nesbitt.

It was that realization which led to a workshop on the effective use of recycled aggregates in October where the working group was created, subsequently followed by the group’s decision to create the practitioners’ guide, he says.

A keynote speaker at the October workshop was Mayor Marolyn Morrison of Caledon.

“Recycled aggregates are the way of the future so I encourage all governments to consider it when feasible for the benefits to the environment and the cost savings,” she said.

“Caledon is one of the top aggregate-producing municipalities in Ontario and a big user of recycled aggregates, so we see the impact and benefits.”

Using less virgin aggregates means fewer trips from heavy vehicles hauling aggregates, minimizing wear on roads, she told the participants.