Ledcor has a 5-year contract with Alberta Transportation to maintain approximately 8,500 km of the Provincial Highway Network in central Alberta. As part of this contract, they provide winter snow and ice control, which requires the application of pickled sand to the roadway surfaces. Prior to outsourcing highway maintenance to the private sector, this work was done by Alberta Transportation. Residual pickled sand piles remaining at the end of the winter season were left exposed to the elements until the following winter - rainfall over the course of the spring and summer seasons leached salt out of the piles and the resulting saline solution was free to soak into the ground and/or run onto adjacent properties. Sand piles were re-pickled (salt added) in the fall to replace salt leached from the piles and restore the desired salt concentration. Ledcor presented a value engineering proposal to Alberta Transportation to provide covered storage to the residual pickled sand piles at 28 highway maintenance properties. This project was nominated for the 2002 Environmental Achievement Award.
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