RC121 NovDec 2025 - Magazine - Page 29
cent clogged quickly,” “So, you’d still have most of the runo昀昀 going
to the street. The original traditional systems like porous concrete and
asphalt had also failed in winter conditions. But when you put PurePave down, none of that water is going to be reaching the street and
its durability is suitable for parking lots or roads. So that’s what really
changes the game.”
Since its founding in 2012, PurePave’s primary focus was paving
residential driveways in Canada and the U.S., but now the company is
tackling larger projects at the municipal level ranging from sidewalks
to parking lots to surfacing for Green Streets projects in cities such as
Toronto and Ottawa.
The road ahead
Yet another application for permeable pavement for municipalities
buying into the strategy of creating a sponge city, is to use this surface
along roadways to better manage stormwater and reduce runo昀昀.
Just last year, New York announced plans to install permeable
pavement along a seven mile stretch of 昀氀ood prone roads that will
cost USD$32.6 million and by the city’s estimate it will prevent
millions of gallons of stormwater from overwhelming the sewer
system annually.
According to Davis, the cost of paving a similar stretch of road in
Canada using PurePave “would be a fraction of that cost,” adding that
“wherever storm systems are at-capacity, having issues but not yet at
the end of their lifecycle, PurePave road shoulders can be used to save
> $4 million per kilometer. Fixing the stormwater issue in the short
term, buying time until the renewal dates arrive.”
Toward that end, PurePave is currently working with the City of
Toronto on a pilot project, and is also in discussions to consider doing
a similar pilot for the City of Ottawa, an initiative Sandanayake con昀椀rms is currently being considered. “Sta昀昀 continue discussions regarding several factors including scope, cost, and complexity, to determine
the feasibility of integrating this into a design project.”
Tie to that potential pilot as well as other future 昀氀ood mitigation
initiatives, he stresses that the city’s overarching goal moving forward
“is to consider new ways of doing things that have more bene昀椀ts.
Even if it has an additional cost over its life cycle or more operations
or more maintenance, we rationalize that may be worth it because
we’re getting not only one bene昀椀t, but maybe two, three bene昀椀ts that
we can quantify.”
From a big picture point of view, Robinson observes that “all professionals, all people that support municipal growth and renewal and
operations need to start applying that climate lens and thinking about
how their piece of the puzzle has to be thinking about how we are
preparing for those future conditions, because those future conditions
are coming for sure.”
Rea昀케rming Sandanayake’s point about prioritizing investments
that deliver multiple bene昀椀ts, Robinson o昀昀ers that “we need to think
about initiatives that deal with 昀氀ooding but also help against heat.
So, think from multiple perspectives. Design for the future. And start
breaking down the barriers between the construction, the renewal
folks and the operational folks. Because sometimes there may be an
operational maintenance response that can help extend the life of your
infrastructure assets and the need for renewal.”
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