Paradox Access Solutions

Last updated
Paradox Access Solutions
Company type Privately held company
Industry Construction
Founded2004
Headquarters
Key people
Marc Breault, Founder and CEO
ServicesAccess solutions (mats, cellular confinement, geotextile), Earthworks (engineering))

Paradox Access Solutions is a construction company specializing in customized access solutions[ buzzword ] for companies who need temporary or permanent roadways built on unstable terrain, such as muskeg, permafrost or mud. The company is located in Acheson, Alberta with distribution access across Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Contents

History

Paradox Access Solutions was founded in 2004 by Marc Breault, who holds six patents relating to roadway construction. [1] In 2012, the company formed an engineering firm to provide geotechnical engineering expertise. [2]

In the aftermath of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, the company assisted with road restoration in affected communities, creating 40 km of temporary roads in a little over one week. [3] Paradox also donated used mats (see description in Products and Services below) to regional nature trail construction groups to aid in trail stabilization and sustainability. [4]

In 2018, the company began work to restore the Hudson Bay Railway to Churchill, Manitoba, which was washed out by floods in May 2017. Paradox provided railbed restoration while Cando Rail repaired the rails. [5] [6]

Products and Services

The company is a provider of wood, rubber and composite mats (often called rig mats or swamp mats), intended to provide stable, if temporary, roadways for industrial applications, such as in oil and natural gas, pipeline access, mining, and utility corridors. The mats are placed in the spring when the ground thaws and removed later in the year when the ground re-freezes, providing extended access to industrial sites in locations where traditional access construction methods are ill-suited, due to location, cost or sensitive environmental conditions. These mats may also be used in aviation, rail transport and paved or unpaved public or private road surface applications. [2]

Tough Cell

Paradox Access Solutions is the sole Canadian distributor of a product called Tough Cell, a Novel polymeric alloy cellular confinement product known as Neology geocell. [7]

Once the honeycomb-shaped geotextile is placed, it's filled with sand, gravel, dirt, [8] or other locally available materials, and then compressed. The honeycomb shape is able to support heavy equipment by redirecting downward energy outward, “decreasing differential settlement of soft subgrades,” [9] providing soil confinement, stabilization, and reinforcement. [10] The resulting surface is functional in very cold (-60 °C) to very hot (60 °C) conditions. [11] [12]

The product is notable for its use of local, rather than imported, aggregate materials. [13]

In addition to temporary roadway applications, it has also been approved for municipal road construction projects. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railway track</span> Rail infrastructure

A railway track or railroad track, also known as a train track or permanent way, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a dependable surface for their wheels to roll upon. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers; since the 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Churchill, Manitoba</span> Town in Manitoba, Canada

Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 140 km (87 mi) from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World," and to the benefit of its burgeoning tourism industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retaining wall</span> Artificial wall used for supporting soil between two different elevations

Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to. They are used to bound soils between two different elevations often in areas of inconveniently steep terrain in areas where the landscape needs to be shaped severely and engineered for more specific purposes like hillside farming or roadway overpasses. A retaining wall that retains soil on the backside and water on the frontside is called a seawall or a bulkhead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Permeable paving</span> Roads built with water-pervious materials

Permeable paving surfaces are made of either a porous material that enables stormwater to flow through it or nonporous blocks spaced so that water can flow between the gaps. Permeable paving can also include a variety of surfacing techniques for roads, parking lots, and pedestrian walkways. Permeable pavement surfaces may be composed of; pervious concrete, porous asphalt, paving stones, or interlocking pavers. Unlike traditional impervious paving materials such as concrete and asphalt, permeable paving systems allow stormwater to percolate and infiltrate through the pavement and into the aggregate layers and/or soil below. In addition to reducing surface runoff, permeable paving systems can trap suspended solids, thereby filtering pollutants from stormwater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Alberta Railways</span> Railway in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada

Northern Alberta Railways was a Canadian railway which served northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Jointly owned by both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, NAR existed as a separate company from 1929 until 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geosynthetics</span> Synthetic material used to stabilize terrain

Geosynthetics are synthetic products used to stabilize terrain. They are generally polymeric products used to solve civil engineering problems. This includes eight main product categories: geotextiles, geogrids, geonets, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, geofoam, geocells and geocomposites. The polymeric nature of the products makes them suitable for use in the ground where high levels of durability are required. They can also be used in exposed applications. Geosynthetics are available in a wide range of forms and materials. These products have a wide range of applications and are currently used in many civil, geotechnical, transportation, geoenvironmental, hydraulic, and private development applications including roads, airfields, railroads, embankments, retaining structures, reservoirs, canals, dams, erosion control, sediment control, landfill liners, landfill covers, mining, aquaculture and agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudson Bay Railway (1997)</span> Canadian short line railway

Hudson Bay Railway is a Canadian short line railway operating over 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of track in northeastern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orangeville Brampton Railway</span> Short line railway

The Orangeville-Brampton Railway was a 55-kilometre (34-mile) long short line railway between Orangeville and Streetsville Junction in Mississauga, Ontario. It passed through the City of Brampton and the Town of Caledon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravel road</span> Type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel

A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the United States. In New Zealand, and other Commonwealth countries, they may be known as metal roads. They may be referred to as "dirt roads" in common speech, but that term is used more for unimproved roads with no surface material added. If well constructed and maintained, a gravel road is an all-weather road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Henday Drive</span> Freeway that encircles Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Alberta Provincial Highway No. 216, better known by its official name of Anthony Henday Drive, is a 78-kilometre (48 mi) freeway that encircles Edmonton, Alberta. It is a heavily travelled commuter and truck bypass route with the southwest quadrant serving as a portion of the CANAMEX Corridor that links Canada to the United States and Mexico. Henday is one of the busiest highways in Western Canada, carrying over 95,000 vehicles per day in 2022 at its busiest point near West Edmonton Mall. Rush hour congestion is common on the four-lane section in southwest Edmonton, where traffic levels have risen due to rapid suburban development. Work began in fall 2019 to widen this section to six lanes by the end of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marston Mat</span> Perforated steel planks for temporary runways

Marston Mat, more properly called pierced (or perforated) steel planking (PSP), is standardized, perforated steel matting material developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips (also misspelled as Marsden matting). The nickname came from Marston, North Carolina, adjacent to Camp Mackall airfield where the material was first used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmonton LRT</span>

Edmonton Light Rail Transit, commonly referred to as the LRT, is a light rail system in Edmonton, Alberta. Part of the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS), the system has 29 stations on three lines and 37.4 km (23.2 mi) of track. As of 2018, it was number seven on a list of the busiest light rail transit systems in North America, with over 113,000 daily weekday riders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cellular confinement</span> Confinement system used in construction and geotechnical engineering

Cellular confinement systems (CCS)—also known as geocells—are widely used in construction for erosion control, soil stabilization on flat ground and steep slopes, channel protection, and structural reinforcement for load support and earth retention. Typical cellular confinement systems are geosynthetics made with ultrasonically welded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) strips or novel polymeric alloy (NPA)—and expanded on-site to form a honeycomb-like structure—and filled with sand, soil, rock, gravel or concrete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Detour</span> Diversion on a route

A detour or is a route taking traffic around an area of prohibited or reduced access, such as a construction site. Standard operating procedure for many roads departments is to route any detour over roads within the same jurisdiction as the road with the obstructed area.

An access mat is a portable platform used to support equipment used in construction and other resource-based activities, including drilling rigs, camps, tanks, and helipads. It may also be used as a structural roadway to provide passage over unstable ground, pipelines and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Route Trident</span> Road in Afghanistan

Route Trident was built by the British Army's Royal Engineers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The construction of the road was codenamed Operation Lar Jarowel by the Ministry of Defence. Route Trident replaced an older road that was vulnerable to attack by insurgents on convoys supplying three patrol bases established in the Gholam Dastagir Kalay area as part of Operation Panther's Claw. In the immediate aftermath of operation the Light Dragoons Battlegroup were suffering casualties as they tried to secure the area and resupply their patrol bases. The attacks resulted in the deaths of two British servicemen and led to the cancellation of the convoys, forcing the bases to be resupplied by air.

Soil stabilization is a general term for any physical, chemical, mechanical, biological, or combined method of changing a natural soil to meet an engineering purpose. Improvements include increasing the weight-bearing capabilities, tensile strength, and overall performance of unstable subsoils, sands, and waste materials in order to strengthen road pavements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cando Rail & Terminals</span>

Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd. is a railroad contractor headquartered in Brandon, Manitoba, founded in 1978 by Gord Peters and Rick Hammond. Cando offers several services, including industrial switching, material handling, logistics, terminal and transload services, engineering and track services, railcar storage, railcar repair and short line operations. The short line operations include the Central Manitoba Railway and Barrie Collingwood Railway.

Calgary Trail and Gateway Boulevard are a pair of major arterial roadways in Edmonton, Alberta. Gateway Boulevard carries northbound traffic while Calgary Trail carries southbound traffic. From south of 31 Avenue, they form a two-way freeway separated by a median; for this portion, the roadway maintains the separate names for northbound and southbound traffic. Near 31 Avenue, Calgary Trail and Gateway Boulevard separate and become parallel one-way arterial roadways to Saskatchewan Drive, at the edge of the North Saskatchewan River valley. Designated as part of Highway 2 south of Whitemud Drive, it is Edmonton's main southern entrance and is both a major commuter route, connecting to the Edmonton International Airport and Leduc, as well as a regional connection to Red Deer and Calgary.

The Neoloy Geocell is a Cellular Confinement System (geocell) developed and manufactured by PRS Geo-Technologies Ltd. Geocells are extruded in ultrasonically welded strips. The folded strips are opened on-site to form a 3D honeycomb matrix, which is then filled with granular material. The 3D confinement system is used to stabilize soft subgrade soil and reinforce the subbase and base layers in flexible pavements. Cellular confinement is also used for soil protection and erosion control for slopes, including channels, retention walls, reservoirs and landfills.

References

  1. "Patents by Inventor Marc Breault" . Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Matting Products" . Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  3. Caroline Barghout (2018-09-05). "Company fixing Churchill rail line says repairs will be complete in 60 days". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  4. "Paradox Access Solutions Donates Rig Mats for Trails" (PDF). Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  5. Michael Lee (September 5, 2018). "Cando awarded contract to repair Churchill rail line". Brandon Sun . Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  6. "Ottawa to provide long-term support for Churchill rail line, port: new owner". The Globe and Mail . September 4, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  7. "Building roads to anywhere". St. Albert Gazette. 29 December 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  8. Snyder, Jesse (24 February 2012). "Paradox Access Solutions supports a horizontal shift". Alberta Oil Magazine. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  9. "Tough Cell (PRS-Neoweb): Technical Overview" . Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  10. Pokharel, P.Eng, Sanat Kumar; Martin, P.Eng, Ian; Norouzi, E.I.T., Meisam; Breault, Marc (February 15–18, 2015). Validation of Geocell Design for Unpaved Roads (PDF). 2015 Geosynthetics Conference. Portland, Oregon. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  11. Tannas, Kim (8 December 2016). "Tips for a Greener Work Site" . Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  12. Mickle, Dale (10 February 2015). "Frigid Weather Couldn't Slow Oil Sands Road Development" . Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  13. "Innovative Roads" . Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  14. "Paving a new way for road base material". Daily Commercial News. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  15. "Ryley's Railway Avenue using innovative 3D cellular confinement system – looks like a honeycomb before filled in and paved over". The Tofield Mercury. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  1. https://paradoxaccess.com/