ASPHALTopics | Summer 2021 | VOL 34 | NO 2

PHASED APPROACH
KEY TO AMBITIOUS
PROJECT
The original Timmins Airport paving contract with
the City of Timmins was set at $7,587,712. Funded
by Transport Canada’s Airports Capital Assistance
Program (ACAP), this money was sufficient to remove
and pulverize five inches (~125 mm) of weathered asphalt
surface on the two runways and two taxiways, distribute
the pulverized RAP onto the airport’s ancillary roads,
and then replace the removed surfaces with four inches
(~100 mm) of hot mix asphalt (HMA). This was the job that
Miller Paving began work on in July 2020.
This proposal didn’t sit well with David Dayment,
the airport’s manager. “Transport Canada said four
inches (~100 mm) of new asphalt would be sufficient
for Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft that fly here
regularly, but not Boeing 737s and larger planes that
come here from time to time — and that we want to be
able to service to boost passenger traffic,” he explains.
“The federal government wouldn’t budge from this
position, so Timmins City Council voted to accept my
recommendation to pay $1,949,547.48 out of our own
pockets so that we could put down a full five inches
(~125 mm) and not limit our options.”
To satisfy the city’s desires, Miller Paving prorated its
original contract to factor in the additional one inch
of pavement — boosting the hot mix asphalt (HMA)
total depth to 125 mm. In doing so, they had to juggle
a number of challenges to meet their first year goal of
rehabilitating runway 03-21 (6,000’ by 150’/1,829 m by
45.7 m) and Taxiways A/B in a climate where freezing
temperatures can arrive in mid-October. (Runway
16 OAPC | ASPHALTOPICS