Work on a pilot project on part of Newtonville Road is paused and it’s due to complaints about unacceptable materials in the road base.
Part of the road is supposed to be reconstructed using recycled materials from blue boxes, but Director of Transportation & Field Services for the Region of Durham Ramesh Jagannathan says a resident complained after finding other items.
“I can only go based on the complaint as reported and described by the resident, which we are investigating,” explained Jagannathan. “As reported we gathered it was the likes of plastics, metals, batteries and I believe there was reference to hooks and syringes.”
The resident who made the complaint posted his findings on Facebook.
A release from the region says the goal of the project was to reuse about 400 tonnes of recycled glass from blue box collections in the granular base, about six tonnes of recycled plastics from blue boxes and 4.5 tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate fibres made from recycled plastics in the asphalt.
Jagannathan says the region has hired a third-party environmental engineering consultant, Malroz Engineering Inc., to sample the road base material and test it.
“They took samples on Monday and Tuesday,” said Jagannathan. “So earlier this week, they completed the sampling and basically, they are reviewing the sample and doing whatever testing they need to do to confirm the quality and the quality of materials being placed. Accordingly, they are going to advise us, which will inform our next steps.”
Jagannathan adds the glass materials for the road base were screened and processed by external companies multiple times before the region used them for the project.
He anticipates the results of the consultant’s review in the next two weeks.
File photo courtesy of Google Maps Street View
