A road in east Richmond was repaved with four times more recycled material than normal.
The City of Richmond and the asphalt manufacturer, LaFarge Canada, will monitor the 800-metre stretch on No. 5 Road to see if the same method can be used on other roads to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
The city paved over four lanes of road in the 7000-block of No. 5 Road- from Granville Avenue to Blundell Road - using up to 40-per-cent recycled asphalt paving.
Richmond’s mayor, Malcolm Brodie, said the city – guided by its zero waste commitments – is “paving the way” for a sustainable future in road construction.
“Road construction and maintenance is an important and necessary reality of municipal operations and it’s not an area that has seen great strides in environmental improvements,” said Brodie.
Previously, using more than 10 per cent recycled material has resulted in quality-control challenges and sub-standard paving, according to the city.
Lafarge Canada, which partnered with the city on the pilot project, applied the recycled paving on No. 5 Road.
Both the city and Lafarge will annually monitor the 800-metre stretch to see if the paving material can be applied to more Richmond roads in the future.
“This project places the City of Richmond in a leadership role by engaging local industry to reduce the use of natural resources and fossil fuels, reduce waste and apply a high level of recycled material on a busy public road,” said Brodie.
It’s hoped the project will increase confidence from local asphalt producers and customers – for example, cities, businesses and homeowners – to produce or buy asphalt paving that uses higher levels of recycled material, according to the city.
Working with local asphalt producers, the city developed a draft accreditation system to identify best practices for producing high-quality recycled asphalt products.
