Canada's crumbling roads are getting worse in climate change — but Alberta oil may be the answer — via financialpost Oil Gas Energy Commodities
It is a town full of stories, although the one Ken Krcel tells, on a late August afternoon, is not about the latest lucky strike, but about a local road maintenance man’s never-ending fight against a much less heralded but no less prominent town feature: potholes.Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the Financial Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
. About 50 per cent of municipal roads and 30 per cent of highways were built prior to 1970, which means they need replacing.Article content Road designers, engineers and builders rely upon historical weather data to set the optimal performance temperature range for a project’s asphalt pavement, which needs to be able to contract without cracking apart in extreme cold temperatures, and to expand without excessively softening in blistering heat.Article content
“It would get cold here in November and warm up in April,” he said. “Now you can get 15 degrees in January, the snow melts, filters into the pavement, refreezes overnight and then the water expands and it literally blows up the pavement.”by the Canadian Automobile Association . Getting mechanics to fix a tire rod that falls victim to a nasty pothole doesn’t earn you any discounts, just another headache.
The gold mines in Timmins are still producing, so heavy ore trucks still rumble through town. But much like other industries, mining requires less people now to do the work. Timmins’ population has been stuck around 40,000 for 40 years.