New paving techniques to be tested in Greater Sudbury

Greater Sudbury will be looking into new and different road repair techniques.

Earlier this year, the city received $10 million as a one time payment from the federal gas tax. City council voted for the funds to be used for road repairs and to explore new paving techniques. The majority of the funds will go toward new road repair projects on the Kingsway, BarrydowneRd. and Regent St.

David Shelsted, the city's director of engineering says the city will use some of the funding, about $700,000, to explorehot in place recycling.

This technique is not new, however, it hasn't been widely used in the province since the 1990's. It's a type of preventative road maintenance that heats the existing pavement and reblends the asphalt, cutting down on the need for new materials. It's used to help correct small problemsbefore they turn into big problems.

Shelsted says the province only recently started using the technique again and now Sudbury will test how well it works in a northern Ontario climate.

"We're out there, we're trying new techniques, we're trying to do things better, we're watching new technology, we're analyzing new technology," he said.

"Ifit shows to be proven in our type of climate on our type of roads, then we try and do pilot project to try those new methods and see how they work."

The city will be looking at the best road options to try hot in place recycling, Shelsted says the work will likely only happen in the 2020 construction season.

Shelsted says the city is constantly testing and exploring different road repairing techniques, like expanded asphalt stabilization and cold in place recycling.

"We keep evolving depending on the roadway and using different techniques to recycle our asphalt, so we've always looked at new methods and we've always been adopting them because it's a cost effective way to treat our road system," said Shelsted.

"Our road system is deteriorating, we do have an infrastructure deficit, so we're always looking at new methods so that we can stretch our capital dollar and fix more roads."

Sudbury has seen several successful road repair projects using recycled asphalt.

"And they've allowed us to do extra kilometres or roadway for the same dollar if we would have just used virgin asphalt, it's out there, it's been a proven success in the past with the city, in terms of recycling asphalt and we'll continue to do that," Shelsted said.