Save the date: Geo-’13 in Long Beach

DAWSON CREEK – The Province is investing over $54 million in South Peace highways and roads in 2011-12, creating jobs for local workers and improving the condition and safety of local roads for South Peace families. A key project is the work on the intersection of 13^th St. and Alaska Ave. in Dawson Creek. The intersection will be improved, including full signalization to greatly improve safety.

Also underway this year will be improvements to intersections on Highway 2 near Pouce Coupe. The intersection of Highway 2 and Old Edmonton Highway will be improved, and a new left-turn lane into Pouce Park will be added allowing easier access for visitors. These projects will be delivered using local labour and equipment, and are scheduled to begin in July.

South of Pouce Coupe, over 13 km of roads in the Tate Creek area will be upgraded and double seal-coated to minimize dust, while improving the road surface for residents and industry.

Visitors to Monkman Provincial Park will benefit from improved access, with work on Monkman Park Road. This project will include gravelling, grading, and base stabilization and will be delivered by day labour.

Another project that will support the local economy by making use of local labour and equipment is the South Peace gravel program. A number of gravel roads in the South Peace will be strengthened and enhanced with additional aggregate, to improve the road surface and safety.

Of the $54 million invested in the South Peace this year, $19 million is funded through the Province’s Oil and Gas Rural Road Improvement Program (OGRRIP). The Province has extended its commitment to improving rural roads through this program by investing $30 million this year in the Peace overall.

Since 2001, the ministry has partnered with other agencies to invest over $500 million in the South Peace for road and bridge improvements and maintenance.

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Washington, D.C.-based TRIP, a non-profit supported by insurance companies and road builders among others, based its report on 2008 data from the Federal Highway Administration, the most recent available. It does not reflect road projects in the $814 billion federal stimulus program begun last year.

As of June, the states and Washington, D.C., had used stimulus funding to improve 27,810 miles of pavement and build 397 miles of new roads in urban and rural areas, according to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

"That's 28,000 miles out of a system that is 2.7 million miles," says Jack Basso, director of program finance and management for the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials. "There is a dramatic need for investment. We need to increase investment and put a long-term federal investment plan in place."

TRIP found that 24% of major urban roads have substandard or poor pavements, a slight improvement over the 26% in its 2007 assessment.

The researchers examined about 200,000 miles of urban roads, which carry 78% of the 2 trillion miles driven annually in urban America.

Recession-plagued state and local governments are putting off expensive reconstruction projects and simply patching roads, says Frank Moretti, TRIP's director of policy and research.

"We're going to have to look at rebuilding the aging system of roads and highways," he says. "If all you're doing is patching the problem, you're going to end up with a huge backlog of highways that need much more significant reconstruction."

Moretti says the lack of a long-term federal highway and transit program hampers states' ability to implement large-scale road reconstruction projects. The current multiyear federal funding law expired last September, but Congress has approved a series of short-term extensions.

Another report this month by the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation found that state highways in the USA are in their best shape in nearly 20 years. That study, which measured the effectiveness of state roads in 11 categories including deficient bridges and pavement condition, found that national performance improved in 2008 in all those areas.

Pavement on urban interstates and rural primary roads is the smoothest since 1993, the Reason Foundation report says. "(Roads, bridges, pavement) deteriorate over time, but the overall condition of the state-owned highways system has never been in better shape," it says.

    Griffen is happy to annouce that its GBX Series biaxial geogrid has been added to the MOT recognized product list in BC and Alberta. The same Griffen line of products (GBX 1500/2000/2500/3000) has been approved in the city of Winnipeg as of June 1/ 2010.

     GBX Series is a high strength, polypropylene biaxial geogrid that delivers reinforcement solutions to roads, highways and other structures where less than desirable soil conditions are present. The benefits of using Griffen GBX Series geogrids include significant cost savings in the form of reduced fill materials, time saved and improved stability and reinforcement of any project. For more information about our company or products please contact a Griffen Representative.

The Mexican economy has been battered by both the worldwide financial crisis and the effects of a steep downturn in the U.S., Mexico’s largest trading partner. And if that was not enough, Mexico’s economy absorbed another blow last year with its virtual shutdown during the swine flu pandemic.

A gathering of the geosynthetic leadership in Mexico City in March set out to identify how the organization can best help grow the market for geosynthetics in Mexico. Granted, GMA Mexico cannot address all of the problems with the Mexican economy, but it can take steps to insure that geosynthetic materials are not left unnoticed as the Mexican economy recovers.

GMA Mexico identified two critical issues needed to ensure growth

• The development of clear geosynthetic specifications acceptable for government agencies.
• Expansion of geosynthetic materials education.

Mexico is now experiencing what many U.S. construction markets have already experienced: Government specifiers are cautious about using geosynthetics in various applications because the industry lacks acceptable specifications (“specs,” in Mexico, are called “norms” or standards). And furthermore, specifiers lack familiarity with geosynthetic materials because engineering education regarding geosynthetics is sparse.

GMA Mexico, under the leadership of Oscar Couttolenc, has developed a working group to address the issue of absence of well-known and well-regarded specifications. The current specification templates that this working group is using are the AASHTO M288 specs that were developed by GMA and AASHTO for use in state transportation applications in the U.S. An objective now for the Mexican working group is to develop consensus specs and then go about marketing the specs to the federal transportation agency, the Instituto Mexicano del Transporte (IMT).

A second working group is addressing the lack of geosynthetic education at the university level and within the existing engineering community. National Autonomous University of Mexico is one of the largest higher education institutes in the world with more than 300,000 students (with 18,000 students enrolled in the engineering department). These students are targeted for hands-on geosynthetic education. The GMA Mexico working group is writing a workbook that will eventually become a text for civil engineering students and help expose them to geosynthetic materials and applications

GMA Mexico has brought geosynthetic education directly to the engineers and specifiers through a series of one- and two-day seminars throughout Mexico. Recently, GMA Mexico, in conjunction with the IGS Mexico chapter and the Sociedad Mexicana De Ingeniería Geotécnica held the conference Geosynthetics: Present and Perspectives in Mexico. The three-day event was held March 10-12 in Mexico City. The conference featured two short courses, a day and a half exhibit hall, and 10 technical sessions. A keynote address was delivered by Dr. Jorge Zornberg.

For more information

Manufacturers, distributors, fabricators, installers, or consultants interested in participating with GMA Mexico can reach Oscar Couttolenc at gmamexico@prodigy.net.mx.

Introduction

The main objectives of this project were to build a retaining wall to support a road and to create more room for the width of the road, especially at the turn.

Potential problems

A primary goal was the repairing and widening of an existing 4m- (13ft)-wide road to 5m (15.5ft). In addition, the roadbed had sustained severe erosion damage at the steep, unstable embankment adjacent to the road.

Geosynthetic solutions

The first order of business was the construction of a retaining wall by stacking geocell panels to increase road width and eliminate embankment erosion.

Unstable soil and vegetation was cleared from the embankment. Then a soil base was leveled and pylons were inserted in the base 2m (5.75ft) deep. Two pylons were placed per geocell panel, with each panel measuring 2.56m x 1.6m (8.5ft x 5.25ft). The pylons were 6-in. PVC pipe filled with concrete and rebar frame.

The first layer of the 6-in. geocellular confinement material was filled with concrete. Subsequent layers were filled with on-site soil and compacted until level with the road surface (3m/10ft). Perforated pipe with a nonwoven geotextile covering was also used during construction for drainage.

The top layer was finished with road fill and guard rails were set in concrete within the geocells. Upon completion, the wall area measured 45m (150ft) long and 3m (10ft) high.

A six-man crew, with loader and operator, took five working days to complete this job.