A common practice you may have noticed is people removing excess gravel from roads that have been recently paved. This gravel is typically what’s left after a road project is completed and will likely be disposed of by the contractors working on the road. With that in mind, some take it upon themselves to remove the gravel and use it for their own purposes. If done correctly, this practice is typically well received and sometimes encouraged. However, we spoke with civil engineer Michelan Gilharry in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, who encourages the public to exhibit patience before removing the gravel. Here’s what he had to say.
Michelan Gilharry, Civil Engineer
“What we would ask the people to do is to wait for us to give them the go ahead, because what happened is, yes, there is some excess material and it, in a way, positively helps the contractor to clean up, in a sense, because they would still need to do it. But once we have placed the first layer, then we wait another thirty days to put the second layer. And then after that, we need proper embedment. If they go and take it beforehand, then they can damage the edge of the road. But if they wait as what we want, and after we have swept it and it’s all the way to the edge, or like to the embankment of the road, then it doesn’t typically affect the road structure. But so that’s what I would comment on saying that we just want patience. They will still be able to get the material is beneficial to the community members, just let’s wait, get the go ahead from the contractors in my project, we do speak with the people shoveling the gravel. We explained to them and most of the time they’re very understanding. They know they wait and then afterwards they would come on, pick up the material and use it for whatever purpose they have.”
