City staff confirm Red Hill gravel problem
October 1, 2006

A memo to city councillors has confirmed that there is a significant problem with gravel used for the roadbed of the Red Hill Creek Expressway. The gravel was crushed from rock blasted out of the escarpment face above the valley in what was supposed to be a major cost-saving initiative for the expressway project.

Acting project manager Chris Murray's note, issued the day after a CATCH report on the problem, says “that recent testing of that granular indicates the shale content has broken down to a point where it would not sustain the wear and tear of traffic over the life of the asphalt.”

Murray says they “do not anticipate any impact to the construction schedule or overall budget” from the problem because the city hopes to use the problem gravel for road shoulders, backfill and “on other works within the city”.

“At a worst case scenario, if none of the material is able to be salvaged,” writes Murray , “the result would be an impact of $2.5 million” which he expects will be covered by contingency funds.

Excavators and trucks have been removing the faulty material from the roadbed for several weeks and replacing it with new gravel hauled in from Cayuga.