Ford's Michigan Proving Ground is receiving an update that will allow for increased vehicle testing abilities while preventing some 130,000 tons of debris from winding up in local landfills.
Mark Mikolaiczik is the manager of the 52-year-old facility in Romeo, Michigan, which includes a five-mile, high-speed track. When he began planning for the track upgrade, he asked contractors for a plan that utilized best practices not only for cost, quality and scheduling, but also for minimizing environmental impact.
Ultimately, the Angelo Lafrate Construction Company, based in Warren, Michigan, rose to the challenge. Their proposal involved re-using nearly every bit of demolition debris from the project, and recycling anything that wasn't reusable. The existing track surface is shattered, crushed, recycled and re-used as an aggregate on which the new surface is built. The aggregate is covered with several layers of recycled asphalt pavement.
Additionally, over 20,000 linear feet of guardrail are being un-bolted and recycled where appropriate. Metal segments that aren't reusable are shipped to a recycling centre, while the wooden posts to which they're mounted are mulched.
"Between the 130,000 tons of asphalt and concrete and the miles of guardrail, we're reusing and recycling around 200,000 cubic yards of material that would have ended up in a landfill," says Scott Redmon, development engineer at the Michigan Proving Grounds. "That's the equivalent of a 12-story building on a one-acre footprint."
The track will re-open this fall.
photo:Ford
Mark Mikolaiczik is the manager of the 52-year-old facility in Romeo, Michigan, which includes a five-mile, high-speed track. When he began planning for the track upgrade, he asked contractors for a plan that utilized best practices not only for cost, quality and scheduling, but also for minimizing environmental impact.
 |
Ultimately, the Angelo Lafrate Construction Company, based in Warren, Michigan, rose to the challenge. Their proposal involved re-using nearly every bit of demolition debris from the project, and recycling anything that wasn't reusable. The existing track surface is shattered, crushed, recycled and re-used as an aggregate on which the new surface is built. The aggregate is covered with several layers of recycled asphalt pavement.
Additionally, over 20,000 linear feet of guardrail are being un-bolted and recycled where appropriate. Metal segments that aren't reusable are shipped to a recycling centre, while the wooden posts to which they're mounted are mulched.
"Between the 130,000 tons of asphalt and concrete and the miles of guardrail, we're reusing and recycling around 200,000 cubic yards of material that would have ended up in a landfill," says Scott Redmon, development engineer at the Michigan Proving Grounds. "That's the equivalent of a 12-story building on a one-acre footprint."
The track will re-open this fall.
photo:Ford