March 13, 2009

RMCAO

With its CANpav software, the Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario says it is demonstrating to municipalities the cost advantages of concrete roadbuilding.

CANpav software makes case for concrete roads

RMCAO in education push

DON PROCTER

correspondent

Myth or fact: the first cost of asphalt pavement is less than concrete pavement for major arterial and collector roads in Ontario?

It is a myth, according to the findings of a new software program developed by a major Ontario road builder in conjunction with the Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario. Those findings, which suggest concrete costs less than asphalt, are “absolutely stunning, mind-blowing. People can’t understand it,” says John Hull, president of the RMCAO.

The numbers are being churned out by the software modelling program simply called CANPav. Their accuracy has been validated by two other major road builders, “so we know we’re dealing with all the right numbers,” says Hull.

The savings are based on designs and costs supplied by Ontario municipalities.

Asphalt has always cost less initially than concrete pavement, or so conventional thinking went. So what’s changed?

One of the reasons concrete is proving the better buy is that the price of bitumen required for asphalt has gone up markedly because new coker refining processes have made bitumen an ingredient in demand for other high-priced products such as gasoline, fuel oil and lubricants. Another reason is the rising cost of excavation and aggregates for road base.

The significance of CANPav’s findings can’t be understated, Hull says, noting that even though concrete has always been less expensive over a 50-year life cycle, it is the initial cost that matters to many politicians.

CANPav is not a detailed design or estimating software.

“It is there simply for municipalities to look at alternative solutions and it helps them determine the best option,” says Hull.

No municipality has an unlimited number of dollars to spend on roads, so the software program stands to become a popular tool in Ontario and Canada, he suggests. To date over half of the 110 municipalities that have seen CANPav demonstrations since the association started knocking on doors last June have shown “great interest” in using it. “We have some interest from another 25 percent and we have a number of pavements that we’ve been told will be called in 2009.”

The software will soon be available online, allowing users to examine and compare their own designs, material and labour costs with alternative designs, says Hull, pointing out that the program allows for changes to design and material prices in midstream.

There isn’t any software quite like CANPav in Canada, he adds.

“Once people see the initial cost comparisons, they also begin to look at sustainable construction attributes. For instance, the ability of concrete pavements to save fuel with heavy trucks, savings in non-renewable resources such as aggregates, recycled concrete in road base and even lighting savings from a higher surface reflectance that provides safer pavements.”

“There is such a huge potential with concrete pavements and there are any number of roadbuilders that know how to use it.”

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