On Solid Ground · At Paradox, we believe that to achieve longer-lasting and less expensive roads, the shared goal of all parties should be to minimize cut and fill quantities, use

On Solid GroundRoad Access, Modern Technology, and the Environment

The world before us...

ContentsIntroduction .......................................................................... 5

Road Ecology ....................................................................... 6

Overcoming Access Barriers ............................................... 8

Matting ................................................................................. 10

Tough Cell ............................................................................ 14

Paradox Can Help ................................................................ 16

Case Study 12 — Nisku, Alberta .......................................... 19

Case Study 26 — Village of Ryley, Alberta ............................ 20

Case Study 28 — Christina Lake site, Alberta ....................... 23

Increasing quality and longevity.

IntroductionFor most of us, roads are long stretches of pavement that serpentine through the countryside and keep our cities organized in neat grids. But, as with anything, there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface.

In any given place on earth, the composition and compactness of the ground vary wildly. In and between municipalities, asphalt is laid atop the infrastructure that keeps urban areas clean and connected. In rural areas, where there’s less infrastructure, gravel and dirt roads are prone to deterioration. In remote areas, ground conditions can be so wet, unstable, or impassable — sometimes it’s a challenge to even build a temporary or permanent road in the first place.

However and wherever a road is constructed, the impact on the environment is considerable and under increased scrutiny by Canada’s resource-based industries and governments.

Because all roads eventually fail, every stretch of roadway and highway is in a constant cycle of being maintained, repaired, and replaced. The costs, resources, and disruption

to the environment compound with each cycle. When you consider that there are more than one million kilometres of roads in Canada, the importance of increasing quality and longevity to lengthen that cycle becomes clear.

For everyone involved in road construction and administration, the numbers present a very specific challenge: how can we continue to evolve our construction methods so roads last longer, while minimizing the environmental impact on the land our roads pass through?

Paradox Access Solutions has been developing solutions that address this issue since 2004. Today, our matting and Tough Cell (PRS-Neoweb) products offer benefits that far surpass those of conventional road construction. And that’s more than just compelling marketing copy — for each stretch of road we build with our customers, we can provide true measurements of carbon savings, and we can engineer roads to last up to 20 years before they need to be replaced.

DID YOU KNOW

Paradox was a matting expert from the very beginning? Since 2004, the organization has evolved to become the leader in a variety of access solutions.

Road EcologyRoad construction and environmental legislation are changing around the world, due to a growing awareness of the environmental impacts, like damage to ecosystems, impaired ecological functions, loss of productive agricultural lands, and the disruption of local economies.

Increasingly, environmental assessments are required by governments and regulatory bodies at the outset of a project, before construction can proceed. Comprehensive studies are performed by environmental assessment professionals who support the engineering teams. Substantial time and effort are invested to identify and minimize potential impacts on the environment.

For new projects, one focus of the assessments will be on preventing negative impacts. That includes justification for the need and the use of a preferred technology, identification of steps in construction that could lead to environmental damage, alignment drawings that map facility locations with local biophysical and socio-cultural environmental features, analysis of potential impacts to surrounding land use, and creating a prevention plan for addressing all of the above.

For existing and upgrade projects, the focus will be on minimizing and reversing damage and mitigating future

issues. These projects usually involve enlargement or upgrading. The assessment would define proposed changes to the existing facility, identify attributes of the facility that have caused negative environmental impacts, and provide an action plan for how to best move forward with both rehabilitation efforts and efficient continued operations.

The challenges of sustainable development include the use of construction material, and the air pollutant emissions from on-site construction processes and heavy equipment and the transportation of material to construction sites.

There are many different methods, materials, and opinions on the market that influence the environmental impact of a given access or roadway. Monitoring and evaluation of road projects can take years to complete, and initial strength tests might be poor or unreliable predictors of longevity.

At Paradox, we believe that to achieve longer-lasting and less expensive roads, the shared goal of all parties should be to minimize cut and fill quantities, use less aggregate, use more locally available infill, plan for fewer excavations and embankments, shorten construction times, and achieve less future maintenance. With a properly engineered solution, the carbon savings can be reported accurately and a road’s lifespan becomes predictable.

With road construction being one of the major activities in North America’s construction industry, requiring a huge amount of costly and finite resources, the environmental footprint — and the importance of reducing that footprint — is paramount.

Marc Breault President, Paradox Access Solutions

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Overcoming Access Barriers As the global demand for energy increases, resource industries such as Oil & Gas, Power Transmission and Distribution, Pipelines, Forestry and Mining push into new and more remote areas. These operations depend on reliable access routes for site access, consistent operations, and high productivity.

When an area is naturally inaccessible — or becomes inaccessible due to a road closure or failure — entire supply and production chains can be severely disrupted.

The design and construction of load support structures over soft foundation soils is a challenging geotechnical problem. Poor soils, weak subgrades, wetlands, high water tables, and harsh environmental conditions are all factors in creating a road with an appropriate bearing capacity. If the calculated settlements are too large or the potential for the embankment instability is high, then soil reinforcement is unavoidable.

Where soft soil, deep peat, or muskeg are present, the

conventional approach is to excavate the weak strata and replace it with imported, stronger fill material. This soil replacement may be unsuitable at sites with deep and saturated soft soil or muskeg, or sites with a high water table within close proximity to existing structures, or where natural drainage will be interrupted. What’s more, the processing and hauling of virgin aggregate often increase a project’s costs and carbon footprint.

Construction during the winter months poses additional challenges. Frozen aggregate is difficult to get proper compaction conventionally with the existence of frozen particles. Adjusting and controlling the moisture content is also difficult, and subgrades with excessive moisture content will be frozen at the time of construction, making them prone to failure during the spring thaw.

Fortunately, modern technology like Paradox’s own soil reinforcement solutions and varieties of matting make it possible to build roads on even the harshest terrain — all while reducing project costs, reliance on imported aggregates, ongoing maintenance, and the road’s carbon footprint.

Reliable access routes for site access, consistent operations, and high productivity.

Matting

Matting solutions provide a robust temporary surface to drive across in extreme ground and seasonal conditions.

Matting has proven useful when constructing roads for a variety of industries, including oil and gas, power transmission and distribution, mining, trenching, alternative energy, public works, special events, pipeline construction, environmental remediation, disaster relief & emergency access, construction, municipalities & governments and the military.

Paradox prides itself in providing industry partners with a selection of mats to ensure the project is matched with the best access solution. Paradox offers a variety of the most durable access mats, including 3 ply oak mats, hybrid mats, fir mats, rubber mats and composite mats.

The oak mat offers superior strength properties and the longest life cycle of any mat in the industry. Oak hardwood is highly durable and will absorb less water than soft wood species like fir, spruce or pine. Each of Paradox’s premium

3 ply oak access mats are secured with a minimum of 172 carriage bolts, have a solid center core, minimal to no wane and a proven lifespan in excess of 6 years. This type of mat provides to be the strongest and most reliable temporary access solution in most challenging and soft terrains, such as muskeg and permafrost.

Mats constructed with soft wood species, such as hybrid, fir or composite mats, are typically lighter in strength and weight, which can offer a significant cost savings towards the logistics of the project. This grade of mat is best suited for applications that have a stronger subgrade and reduced load requirements. These mats are widely used in areas of high sensitivity, such as agricultural lands and biodiversity areas where mats are being handled and washed routinely.

According to the Forest Products Laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture, oak endures greater compressive pressures, flexes under greater loads before breaking, and absorbs greater side impacts than softwoods.

Paradox’s skilled loader operators expertly place mats so they resist shifting. They do this by examining the terrain and the condition of the ground prior to placement, ensuring minimal movement, and reducing the chance of damages.

For customers of Paradox’s mat leasing program, Cornerstone®, Paradox provides end-to-end management of mat movements, placement, storage, maintenance, and tracking. This truly gives customers the best of both worlds because its like owning the mats but managed like a rental program. Eliminating the babysitting of inventory.

Paradox believes in fit-for-purpose solutions, so the more durable oak option isn’t always recommended when lower-cost alternatives such as softwood mats will best meet a customer’s needs.

THE PATH LESS FOLLOWED

WE BUILD THE PATH THAT SUITS YOU BEST

THE PATH MORE FOLLOWED

WE BUILD THE PATH THAT SUITS YOU BEST

THE ROAD WHENEVER TAKEN

THE ROAD WHEREVER TAKEN

Tough CellTough Cell is a reliable base/subbase soil reinforcement solution conventionally known as “geocell” technology, that changes the strength modulus properties of high and low-quality granular materials. Perhaps more importantly, it reduces project costs, future maintenance, and substantially lowers the carbon footprint of road construction.

Functionally, Tough Cell is an expandable webbing that spreads to create a layer of vertical pockets that can be filled with materials like sand, gravels, recycled concrete, and recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). As the foundation of a road, this unique mechanism confines infill movement, allows natural drainage, converts vertical stresses to lateral stresses, and confines lateral stresses with durable hoop strength. The Tough Cell layer acts like a “beam” in engineering terms, by redirecting and distributing the load it is bearing.

Geocells were developed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers late 1960s, and were used to land heavy equipment on the beaches of Vietnam in the 1970s. They were first constructed of wax-coated paper, then evolved to use aluminum, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and then novel polymeric alloy (NPA). The geocell product patent was licensed for civilian applications in the 1990s, and the material “Neoloy®” — a strong, stiff, and sustainable alloy composed of polyolefin and thermoplastic engineering polymer — was developed soon after.

Paradox combines the geocell concept with Neoloy in the superior Tough Cell.

A conventional road building company typically requires 25,000 tons of crushed stone per kilometers. With Tough Cell, you can realize at least 25% (and as much as 50%) savings on aggregate infill volume. Pavement thickness can also be reduced by up to 50%. Additionally, full depth subgrade preparation is usually not necessary, and soil replacement is minimized or eliminated. The ability to use locally available materials can save time and costs on trucking infill from excessive distances.

The result? Shorter traffic disruptions, lower overhead, and less time on site in general.

50%savings on aggregate infill volume

Paradox Can HelpParadox Access Solutions provides clients with alternative products and services to help them overcome access challenges quickly, easily, and in an environmentally friendly manner — while still delivering economic value.

Paradox is uniquely positioned to help alleviate the demands on local governments’ capital and operating budgets. As North America’s exclusive supplier of the world’s leading geocell, Tough Cell, we can help municipalities build longer lasting, low maintenance roads with less aggregate.

In addition to Tough Cell, we offer matting solutions, geotextiles, pipeline crossings, and geotechnical & engineering services.

We are also proud to be affiliated with the Evergreen Learning and Innovation Centre — a non-profit alliance of industry partners that seeks to inspire a culture of responsible resource development through learning and innovation.

In keeping with the Centre’s mission of exchanging new ideas and inspiring innovative solutions, Paradox shares and demonstrates its technology and expertise in the construction of cost-effective, low-impact, reclaimable access roads that pass through wetland environments.

Paradox is uniquely positioned.

Nisku, Alberta

The industrial area of Nisku in the County of Leduc experiences heavy truckloads that expose the pavement structure to excessive damage. The County recognized a need for its roads to have a longer lifespan.

It was decided that test sections would be constructed on a 1000m stretch of the road — 500m each of the CTB (cement-treated base) and NPA (novel polymeric alloy) geocell-reinforced granular base — on either side of the railway track. The University of Alberta conducted initial research and monitoring on the test sections. During the following years, non-destructive testing and monitoring of both sections were carried out by the County of Leduc employing independent organizations.

Paradox was contracted to provide technical support and to install the NPA geocell section. Construction took place in July and August of 2012, with the subgrade of the existing road was scarified and used as the subgrade of the rehabilitated road structure. NPA geocell was placed and filled with new granular material to construct a reinforced base layer. A layer of woven geotextile was used under the NPA geocell as a separator between the base and subgrade. The GBC was 200mm thick and was reinforced with 150mm high NPA geocell.

The monitoring and evaluation of road projects take years to complete, and as of yet there are no established testing methods that provide a meaningful comparison of roads constructed as differently as the geocell and CTB road sections. However, as early as one year after construction, the CTB sections appeared to be deteriorative with clear surface distress, while the geocell-reinforced section showed no issues. By March 2015, the CTB side was showing longitudinal and transverse cracks, while the geocell-reinforced section remained rut-free and smooth for driving.

CASE STUDY #12

Village of Ryley, Alberta

The Village of Ryley presented an opportunity to show that residential street rehabilitation was possible with a limited municipal budget.

Ryley’s managers and elected officials had become frustrated with repairing their main road, which was continually damaged by traffic and the elements. Their municipal budget was being consumed by the costs of maintenance and frequent resurfacing.

The Village decided to rebuild completely, this time with the intent to lower construction cost, increase longevity, and drastically reduce maintenance costs. Paradox and Tough Cell were selected as the solution.

As anticipated, the project demonstrated dramatic carbon reduction and capital cost savings.

The project saw a 10% cost savings on initial construction, a 25% reduction in asphalt, a 25% savings on excavation, and a 20% cost savings over conventional methods. By the time the project was complete, there was a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions, a 15% increase in support capacity, and a 50% reduction in long-term maintenance costs.

The 20% reduction in CO2 emissions is especially notable, as that equates to 93,500kg of CO2 emissions that would have been released using conventional road construction methods.

This project and its results were documented in a paper published and presented at the 2017 Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (CSCE) conference in Vancouver.

CASE STUDY #26

Christina Lake site, north of Conklin, AlbertaMEG Energy needed an all-weather access road in an area where extreme weather – freezing winters and rainy summers – and poor drainage impeded construction. And they needed it fast.

Paradox Access Solutions proposed using Tough Cell geocells to tame the problematic, meter-deep muskeg with an 800% moisture content. Rather than remove and replace the muskeg, a cost-prohibitive option, Paradox’s solution was designed using two layers of Tough Cell geocells.

First, a layer of non-woven geotextile was installed directly over the 3 km stretch of muskeg. This was followed by a layer of Tough Cell geocells, infilled with up to a meter of clean sand from nearby borrow pits, which stabilized the subgrade and improved its bearing capacity.

Another layer of nonwoven geotextile followed, to further separate the subgrade from the Tough Cell layers. Finally, a second Tough Cell layer was placed and infilled with crushed gravel, distributing the load horizontally to reduce stress and settlement.

The Paradox Tough Cell solution saved MEG time and money compared to traditional road construction techniques, and by taking advantage of locally available sand, lowered the cost of imported aggregate. Just as importantly, it offered MEG the increased bearing capacity and longevity of a road that faced heavy traffic demands.

Five years later, this “temporary” access road, intended to be used for six months, is still in regular use and remains in excellent condition.

It was a road built virtually over water!

CASE STUDY #28

An incredible milestone!” Intended for a six month period, the Phase 3A access road remains in excellent condition today and is still in frequent use after five years of service.

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Providing access solutions across North America.

877.MUD.UGLY (683.8459)[email protected]

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