TAC’s 2015 Environmental Achievement Award

The 2015 TAC Environmental Achievement Award will be conferred upon le Ministère des Transports du Québec in recognition of its innovative measures to improve environmental performance with respect to pavement markings.

The award, which recognizes exemplary contributions to the protection and enhancement of the environment or a particularly original solution to an environmental problem, will be presented at the upcoming Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Conference & Exhibition in Charlottetown in September.

The Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) is very aware of the importance of reducing the environmental impacts of its activities, including moving from alkyd paint products to water-based paints in pavement markings, which is less damaging to the environment.

MTQ was amongst the first to implement compulsory use of recycled glass in the production of microbeads and eliminate the use of lead chromate pigments.

“In 2007, MTQ introduced a new clause to its standard purchasing contract requiring that glass residues used in the manufacture of microbeads contain at least 90% recycled glass,” explains Michel Tremblay, Engineer, Operations Services, Operations Support Branch. “The same year, we developed new contract specifications restricting the heavy metal content in glass microbeads.”

Other practices have been implemented in recent years to reduce environmental impacts of road marking activities, including:

• Eliminating the use of 19,000 metal drums and 140,000 microbead storage bags
• Preventing the release of 235,000 kg of lead chromates into the environment
• Reducing the use of volatile organic compounds (VOC) by 1.5 million kg
• Using the 2.8 million recycled glass microbeads
• Reducing by 150,000 litres the quantity of road marking paint used on MTQ roads and highways

Measures implemented by MTQ have had significant environmental repercussions not only in Quebec, but also in all Canadian provinces and at the state level across the U.S.

“We stopped using paints containing lead chromate in 2007, an approach later adopted by the Government of Canada in 2010,” notes Michel. “We also migrated to water-based paints in an effort to reduce VOC emissions five years prior to the implementation of the federal VOC emissions reduction standard.”

The migration toward lower environmental-impact marking products required the development of a comprehensive change-management plan. The shift to recyclable containers also required a major shift in procurement management practices.

“Starting in 2001, significant capital costs were incurred in replacing MTQ’s eight pavement-marking vehicles,” adds Michel. “The development and implementation of a new, more precise and uniform pavement-marking assessment system presented certain challenges, as all personnel involved needed to be given proper training. The development of these new standards and specifications required a comprehensive laboratory testing and field-testing program, along with a detailed analysis of their commercial and legal repercussions.”

Three other nominations for the award were evaluated by a selection committee appointed by TAC’ s Environment Council: Flood Recovery Stampede Pathway Along Elbow River (Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure); Massasauga Site Fidelity and Translocation Study (Ministry of Transportation, Ontario) and Warden Avenue Road Widening; A York Region Reconstruction Project in an Environmentally Sensitive Area (The Regional Municipality of York).      

A session based on the award and featuring all nominees will be held at TAC's upcoming conference. For information on this and other sessions, consult the conference program.