| Title | Assessment of Impact of Energy Development Projects on Local Roads |
| Publication Type | Conference Paper |
| Year of Publication | 2011 |
| Authors | Wilke PW, Harrell M |
| Conference Name | Annual Conference of the Transportation Association of Canada |
| Call Number | 32 |
| Keywords | Communities, Costs, Energy, Industry, Road networks |
| Notes | Oil and gas development has been an important part of the economy of western Canada and the
United States for decades. Recently there has been resurgence in the development of natural gas
and other alternative energy sources, including wind farms, throughout North America. The
development of wind farms require movement of very heavy equipment over low volume, rural
roads that were often not designed for such loading. The development of natural gas wells,
especially those utilizing hydro-fracturing, requires movement of large volumes of moderately
heavy trucks over similar rural roads. Many local municipalities and provincial highway
departments are concerned about the impact of this truck loading on the life of their roadway
infrastructure.
This paper summarizes the impact of energy development projects on local road networks. A
method to estimate the cost impact of various types of trucking on pavements is presented.
Additionally, methodologies are presented to: quantify pavement conditions before and after
wind farm/oil and gas well development traffic; determine the need for pre-development
upgrades, and determine the repairs developers should make or the financial contribution they
should pay at the end of the development period for the pavement life that has been consumed.
Alternative technical approaches, ranging from simplified, conventional pavement testing to
more sophisticated methods involving non-destructive testing that have been used recently are
presented. Finally, the paper presents administrative issues to be considered in road use
agreements.
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| URL | http://conf.tac-atc.ca/english/annualconference/tac2011/docs/p2/wilke.pdf |