Q&A
tires, and there was interest in investi-gating
the use of tire-derived aggregate
(TDA) as a road embankment material.
At the time, the Anthony Henday
was also being constructed, and so we
had the opportunity to design and con-struct
a $1.2 million instrumented test
road leading to the Edmonton Waste
Management Centre. The embank-ments
were made using a combina-tion
of soil and TDA – over 800,000
tonnes of scrap tires were used in the
project. The project not only involved
the construction of the test road with
embankments and three test sections
for different types of insulation mate-rials,
but also the expansion of the
laboratory facilities at the University of
Alberta. We have laboratories with the
capacity to test the properties of a full
range of materials used in road con-struction.
This includes asphalt binders,
asphalt mixes, backfill materials, cold-mix
asphalt and many others.
The IRRF test road was opened
to traffic in 2015 and is still being
monitored. Most of the traffic along
that road is heavy trucks, and we have
historic data about the traffic loading,
etc. along the road. We continuously
look at the performance of not only
“If we advance the state of
knowledge and technology in
road construction and improve
educational and training
opportunities, we bring what
is needed to the field, and also
create a work environment that
is engaging for employees.“
the TDA embankments, but also things
such as the pavement performance in
different weather conditions and the
performance of polystyrene and bottom
ash insulation layers, among others.
Overall, the IRRF is intended to
advance research related to the
challenges we face with road construction
in cold regions. This includes aspects
such as improvements in pavement
performance, the use of waste or
recycled materials in road construction,
determining the load-bearing capacity
of pavement structures during different
seasons, and techniques for winter
road maintenance, among others. We
have a lot of capacity for and expertise
in pavement engineering and road
construction research at the IRRF and
the University of Alberta, and we are
excited when we have the opportunity
to work with new partners.
The IRRF also has the goal of
providing quality education in the area
of pavement engineering and road
construction. The educational aspect
deadburnett/123rf
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