Asphalt paving in Ottawa

Asphalt paving in Ottawa covers a wider range of surfaces than the phrase suggests. A plaza drive aisle, a service court behind a retail unit, a private road through a business park and a yard apron at a loading dock are all paved the same way in principle, and each one has a different load pattern to design around.

What is included

The work starts with the base. Existing material is removed where it is failing, the subgrade is shaped and compacted, and granular base is placed in layers. Drainage items and any curbs or islands are set to the elevations the surface has to meet. Asphalt is then placed in lifts and rolled while it is workable, with the joints and edges treated as carefully as the middle of the mat.

Access routes matter on commercial paving. A delivery truck turning into a service court puts far more load on the surface than a car parking in a stall, and a garbage truck stopping at a bin does the same in one spot every week. The paving and the base under it are planned with that in mind, particularly at entrances, corners and turning areas.

How the work is planned

We start with how the property runs. Delivery windows, tenant hours, accessible parking and the fire lane are fixed constraints, so the work is sequenced around them rather than through them. On a plaza, that usually means a temporary route is kept open while one drive aisle is closed. On a business park or industrial yard, it often means working around shift changes and keeping a dock reachable.

Where the finished surface has to meet an existing one, the joint is planned in advance. A joint that is simply butted against old asphalt opens within a season. A properly prepared joint, cut clean and tied in, stays closed much longer.

Orleans and the east end

Asphalt paving in Orleans follows the same approach as anywhere else in the city, with one practical difference: many of the plaza lots along Innes Road and Tenth Line have to stay open through the work because the tenants depend on the drive aisle in front of their doors. That makes phasing and after hours work a normal part of the plan rather than an exception.

Freeze-thaw and plow traffic

A paved commercial surface here has to survive water freezing in any opening, plow blades working the edges through the winter and salt at the joints. Water is what does the damage, so the fall of the surface, the compaction of the mat and the condition of the edges are the parts that matter most. A surface that sheds water and has no raised edges for a plow to catch is a surface that lasts.

When to schedule

Paving sits inside the warmer months, when hot mix can be placed and rolled within a workable temperature range. Dry weather helps, but dry base is the real requirement: placing asphalt over a saturated base traps water underneath it. If a lot has drainage problems, those are corrected before the paving date is set.