April 2014
| Business World Magazine | 155
including bracing manhole covers and other
drainage items so they don’t move around
due to frost heaving. Asphalt and concrete
sealers and rejuvenators are also used to keep
road surfaces as tight as possible and keep
moisture out, which can scale down the
amount of deterioration.
“The weather has as much wear and tear
effect on a lot of the infrastructure as the
traffic does,” Shepherd said. “In a lot of cases
it’s frost-related, and de-icing materials over
time have some effect on the bridges. A lot of
the deterioration and the aging of the infra-
structure is due to weather and the road salt
as opposed to the traffic itself. The reason
we end up doing rehabilitation is weather
effects. “It comes back to the balancing act
and how you’re going to get the best bang
for your buck. There’s no use putting down
lots of pavement if it’s going to fall apart in
five years. If you can seal it up and get it to
not fall apart for an additional five years, you
look at the cost benefit. The rejuvenator we
use is maybe a dollar or two per square meter.
The paving costs $10.
“You look at the cost-benefit and if it ex-
tends your life by 15 or 20 percent, it’s well
worth it.”
