North Road goes green

September 4, 2009

By Mark Ferguson

The North Road paving project was scheduled to be completed before the fall term started, but due to some unavoidable circumstances, the roadway between Campus Drive and Perimeter Road will not be finished on time.

“It was an idealistic plan to complete the project before the fall, but due to weather delays and other problems, it seemed like we just hit delay, delay, delay,” said Darryl Cherry, project manager with planning development in the Facilities Management Division (FMD).

Crews are working on the project, which is divided into a number of different phases including three test strips.  The north section of the road will be surfaced with a topcoat of hot mix asphalt, the middle section with cold mix and the south end will have interlocking concrete paving stones.

North Road will be closed until the final phase of the project - a much needed right-hand turn lane onto Campus Drive – is completed in late September. A temporary road is available for vehicles to access the Peterson Building and Food Centre parking lot as well as the synchrotron loading bay. 

According to Cherry, one reason the road is in such rough shape is because of increased bus service on campus.

“Buses are a terrible hazard to the old roads on campus. They just weren’t built to sustain the impact.” 

Cherry said that when the new road is finished, it will be able to withstand the heavy loads from bus usage, thanks to new construction methods. A “green road technology” technique was chosen for the project for a number of reasons, including that it uses recycled building materials from campus.

He points out a gravel pile on the northwest corner of campus, then picks up a handful of the rubble it contains, which are pieces of the Research Annex building torn down to make room for the new Health Sciences project. The rubble forms one of the base layers of the new North Road and will provide a superior road structure while reducing the environmental impact, said Cherry. Other recycled material from the old road itself is also being used in the re-paving process.

For information on the North Road project, check the FMD website.