The Route 100 Road Improvement Committee was pleased to attend and participate in an information session at MUN on March 14 conducted by Dr. Hamal Hossain of the engineering department.
Hossain is an assistant professor of engineering specializing in pavement materials, design and maintenance. We wish him every success in partnering with the provincial Department of Transportation and Works in developing the needed infrastructure.
In the interim, we hope that he will be consulted to draw on his expertise and wealth of experience to improve our desperate road conditions.
We were keenly interested when he spoke about the possibility of testing the use of old tires to create an asphalt mix to suit our climate and changing temperatures. Other interesting topics were: imperfect asphalt binders, thickness of pavement, tack coating between pavement layers, etc. What triggered my interest most was the possibility of constructing a testing track or circuit to examine distresses in the pavement mix.
The old Argentia runway could be an ideal location. This track could contain various asphalt mix designs and record how they react to different axle loads.
This could be conducted by wheels running back and forth mechanically or by assigned drivers. As opposed to government’s new approach now on the TCH this testing track could obtain results more quickly and operated vigorously 24/7.
Good luck Dr. Hossain.
Ray Murphy
Chairman, Route 100 Road Improvement Committee
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