BARRHEAD—County of Barrhead councillors opted for a slightly inferior product and its associated lower price for their pavement crack sealing program.
On May 7, councillors awarded Alberta Parking Lot Services, based in Red Deer, a $102,000 contract to carry out its 2024 road-pavement crack sealing program, including the runway at the Johnson Industrial Airport.
The work is to be completed by July 1. The municipality set aside $76,250 in the 2024 capital budget for the project. Last year, the county contracted Marshall Lines to do the work for $68,000.
The county received seven bids, with the lowest being Alberta Parking Lot Services, and the highest was Alberta Paving at just under $800,000.
Infrastructure director Ken Hove said the municipality annually carries out crack sealing on all its paved roadways.
"Crack sealing is a cost-effective method of preserving the integrity of the road base beneath paved roadways, which in turn helps to preserve a smooth travelling surface," Hove said. "Ultimately, it maximizes the lifespan of paved roadways."
Hove added that a hot or cold pour product can be used but suggested that a hot pour product creates better, longer-lasting results.
"Since the product is heated before use and thinner, a hot pour can get into the cracks better," Hove said. "Cold poor is soft and liquidity, but it probably doesn't migrate into the crack quite as well, but it is cheaper."
For the last three years, Marshall Lines used a hot pour mixture for its repairs.
Alberta Parking Lot Services was one out of two of the bidders that used a cold pour product to do the repairs.
Coun. Paul Properzi asked if Hove could see much of a difference between hot and cold pour mixes when used on county roads.
"Not in this region," Hove replied. In a narrow crack, a hot pour gets into the crack more efficiently. Otherwise, you use a cold mix, pooling it up with a squeegee and putting it into the crack."
He added that contractors have said their product pricing has increased significantly in the last two years and are now starting to pass those costs on to their clients.
"While hot sealing is a better product, utilizing cold pour for a year to keep costs closer to the budget shouldn't cause any issues," Hove said, adding the cold pour product meets Alberta Transportation's specifications.
Reeve Doug Drozd asked if there was any concern about applying cold on a runway due to differing standards.
Hove said no, noting that the airport runway generally sees "less cracking as it does not see the loads" and that Alberta Transportation does not have differing standards for paving a runway compared to a highway.
Drozd then suggested they chose the right time to conduct a large portion of their paving program last year, referring in part to the completion of Range Road 40, better known as the auto parts road.
"With more oil being shipped by pipe [due to the opening of the Trans Mountain Pipeline] out of the province, the asphalt and heavy oil product left over for contracting and paving, that supply is tightening, and the prices are likely to go up," he said. "In future years, we could be faced with significant increases. It is lucky we did a bunch of paving when we did."
Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz said, unfortunately, they had little choice but to continue with their annual crack sealing program.
"We don't want our county roads looking like provincial highways," he said.
