FPInnovations, in cooperation with Alberta Transportation and the Laval University i3C Chair, undertook a review of the starting threshold for initiating winter weight hauling in Alberta. The objective of this project was to conduct an engineering analysis of freezing pavements to determine the minimum frost depth at which log hauling at winter weight premiums (WWP) in Alberta could start without compromising pavement service life. The report describes literature on freezing pavement engineering, Canadian winter weight policies, a controlled trafficking simulation of an instrumented pavement as it was frozen, and subsequent modeling to valiidate results and extrapolate results ot a wider range of pavement structures. It was recommended that the current 1.0 m starting frost depth threshold be reduced to a depth of 700 mm.
FPInnovations, with funding from the Canadian Forest Service, is currently investigating the feasibility and form of standardized road - pipeline crossings. FPInnovations and Access Pipeline Inc. jointly conducted a field trial to evaluate the structural responses from heavy vehicle traffic to large (National) pipeline segments buried within a native earth road. This field trial was intended to contribute to the general knowledge of the industry, and more specifically to document the structural performance of large diameter, stiff-walled (pipeline) pipe buried under roads that are crossed by heavy equipment.
