Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Global warming and permafrost degradation pose significant threats to Canadian road infrastructure; moreover, climate change-induced severe and frequent extreme weather events present challenges, especially for the roads in the northern regions. Dr. Di Wang, Canada Research Chair in Cold Region Roads, is working on developing guidelines on durable, sustainable, and climate resilient technologies and solutions for existing and newly constructed road infrastructures in cold regions. In particular, a) develop reduced-cost maintenance and construction materials for surface, subgrade, and embankment in cold regions. Reinforce and replace conventional geotechnical construction materials with a high content of Canadian local recycled materials. b) Optimize mitigation solutions for road instability and moisture damage caused by permafrost degradation. Evaluate intensive permafrost degradation on road materials and structures in both laboratory and field, then optimize mitigation solutions to reduce cost or increase durability. c) Climate-resilient and adaptation design and construction measures for cold region roads. Evaluate the impact of extreme climate conditions on road infrastructure; predict climate change trends; and development of innovative road materials and structures to prevent potential failures under extreme weather events. Potential deliverables will be to produce technical guidelines for developing cost-efficient and sustainable geotechnical maintenance and construction materials; to develop technical guidelines and standards to determine permafrost degradation mitigation solutions under different conditions; and to create informative documentation for designing and constructing climate-resilient road infrastructure in cold regions. Dr. Wang and his research team are searching for solutions that integrate civil, environmental, climate, and cold region engineering concerns as well as northern communities' experiences and perspectives to suit the unique conditions of Canada. Such solutions will ultimately lead to a durable, sustainable and cost-efficient development of road infrastructures in the cold region, especially in Canadian northern communities. This will not only improve the local people's quality of life, and accelerate resource development; but will boost innovation, efficiency and competitiveness of Canada’s building, industrial and civil infrastructure sectors, and ultimately improve infrastructure engineering in Canada.