The City of Prince George is using a new method of paving to extend the life of the city's aging streets.
Micropaving - or micro surfacing - uses a mixture of polymers, asphalt, gravel, water and fillers in a layer one centimetre thick or less over existing roads. City transportation manager Al Clark said the city has experimented with micropaving in the past and this year has incorporated it into its regular road rehabilitation budget.
"It's a treatment that we put on roads that is in pretty good shape - no potholes or alligatoring," Clark said. "Generally you get seven-plus years of life out of it."
Micropaving is inexpensive compared to conventional paving, he said, and streets can be reopened in as little as an hour after treatment.
"We've used it a few times in the city... [and] we know that it stood up in residential areas," Clark said.
On July 13 the city awarded a contract to Squamish-based Miller Capliano Maintenance Corp. to micropave 22,255 square metres of roadway for $134,598.
Areas to be micropaved this year include sections of Douglas Street, McPherson Place, Parker Drive, Galinas Avenue, Dornbierer Crescent, Ewen Avenue and Flynn Avenue.
Under the contract, the micropaving is to be completed by the end of the month.
"Thorough our asset manager we've been looking at ways to improve the life of our infrastructure," Clark said.
Micropaving was developed in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, and is now used in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australia.
