What’s new with the Infrastructure & Asset Management Council

This is part of a series of articles profiling the online meetings of TAC’s six councils and their committees held in April 2023.

TAC’s Infrastructure & Asset Management Council  welcomed 33 attendees to its spring meeting on April 14.

Guest presentation

The Council received a presentation from Rodrigue Gilbert, Canadian Construction Association, on current procurement practices.

Committee updates

The Council received updates from its six committees.

The Asset Management Committee meeting attracted 51 attendees. It featured discussions on incorporating climate change resiliency into performance measures, benchmarking asset condition, and the use of artificial intelligence in asset management.

The Construction Committee meeting involved 35 participants. The Committee heard a presentation on qualification procedures for engineering service providers by Seyed Tabib. Notable areas of discussion during the meeting included staff recruitment, fuel surcharge impacts, and the challenges of working around railways.

The Maintenance & Operations Committee meeting was attended by 35 participants and included technical presentations on active transportation infrastructure maintenance by Mike Pearson, crash truck conspicuity by Jason Boparai, benchmarking winter maintenance practices by Audrée Perreault, and road salt working group progress by Ken Olsen. The Committee discussed winter maintenance, touching on aspects such as operator safety, operator shortages, level of service standards, and equipment supply delays. The Committee continues to seek funding partners for its project on Maintaining and Repairing Small Culverts.

The Pavements Committee meeting welcomed 76 participants and heard presentations from Stephen Lee on Ontario’s 3D ground penetrating radar trial on Highway 417, from Eugene Amarh on life-cycle impacts of recycled pavement projects in Virginia, and from Sean Zoerb on scrub seals for surface preservation. The Committee also discussed super-heavy loads, centreline rumble strips, and spring load restrictions.

The Soils & Materials Committee meeting attracted 94 attendees. It featured presentations on sustainable low carbon concrete by Tim Smith, decarbonization of the construction sector by Jon Makar, recycled asphalt pavement content in Alberta mixtures by Kimberly Edmunds, the response of British Columbia’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to extreme weather events by Ian Pilkington, and interferometric synthetic aperture radar by Murray Down.

The Structures Committee meeting attracted 53 attendees. It included technical presentations on bridge barriers by Khaled Sennah, CSA S7 Pedestrian Bridge Guide by Azita Azarnejad, and pile thermal integrity testing by Jim Zammataro.

Infrastructure & Asset Management Council Executive Volunteers

• Chair – Jennifer Graham Harkness (Ontario Ministry of Transportation)
• Vice-Chair – Brad Neirinck (City of Winnipeg)
• Chair, Asset Management Committee – Gabe Cimini (Stantec)
• Chair, Construction Committee – Hector Moreno (Town of Whitby)
• Chair, Maintenance & Operations Committee – Heather McClintock (WSP Canada Inc.)
• Chair, Pavements Committee – Richard Korczak (Stantec)
• Chair, Soils & Materials Committee – Sina Varamini (Engtec Consulting Inc.)
• Chair, Structures Committee – Robert Simpson (New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure)
• Past Chair – Ashley Curtis (City of Toronto)
• Board Liaison – Stephanie Hébert (Transport Canada)