MHCA working with Manitoba Infrastructure to improve procurement and road surface product
The MHCA Executive Committee at its April 17 meeting heard officials from Manitoba Infrastructure (MI) give an overview on the proposed changes to the base specifications for road construction, as well as some details on the current provincial review for procurement modernization.
Procurement modernization aspires to gain cost savings by looking at how government, across departments, could coordinate purchases of supplies and services. Buying in bulk, or procuring supplies and services closer to where they need to be delivered might result in saving money, it was explained.
That process is in early stages, the Executive Committee was told.
On the specification revisions, MI officials said the department is looking to make the road base stronger with enhanced water drainage, enabling thinner road surfaces. That could save anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 per road kilometre and in the process extend the service life of road surfaces. Sub-surface water accumulation and seepage through seams reduce road service-life expectancy.
The revisions’ goal would be to use a different granular base course in the aggregate materials, with reduced fine material, to permit accelerated water drainage.
The department, in its construction specifications, intends to move to the “international roughness index” (or IRI) when inspecting finished road rehabilitation or construction. At present it uses a “profile index” to measure smoothness.
The current measure can result in excessively high frequency of re-work that must be done, or payments from contractors when the desired profile index is not met.
“We are glad that MI has agreed to continue discussing the revisions to the base specifications for highways,” MHCA President Chris Lorenc said, noting that the change to the IRI measurement is also useful.
“It was clear from the discussion at the table that our industry is pleased to be part of this base spec revision, to make roads better.”