James has interests that include Civil and Road Works, Highways, Pavement Investigations, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD), Pavement Design, Pavement Evaluation, Pavement Rehabilitation, and Pavement Recycling/Stabilisation. He also provides advice on construction costs and life cycle cost analysis to assist our clients in achieving sustainable solutions. At Durkin, he led a versatile team comprised of civil/pavement engineers, laboratory technicians, and field operators as the Pavement Technology Manager. This department provided services in the areas of pavement/geotechnical investigation, testing, and design to the construction and infrastructure industry. His goal was to provide high quality investigation, testing, and engineering advice that leads to more sustainable solutions for our clients and the community. Currently he is the Technical Director – Pavement Technology at McCurdy Associates Consulting Engineers Limited in Ireland. 

The conversation around road pavements and sustainability stems from the drive in the industry to not only look at the use of recycled materials but also explore other methods of preventative maintenance of existing assets. There are many technologies now that extend the life cycle of pavements with the ROI for the asset owner. The acceptance by contractors and asset owners to adopt and adapt to new methodologies is critical in the management of road pavements as assets. The key balance is between higher initial cost but lower long-term maintenance and rehabilitation cost and whether it’s more economical than the pavement with lower initial cost and higher maintenance and rehabilitation cost. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) should be the prime factor to be considered. So, what is the synergy between road pavements and sustainability?

In this article, we learn more about road pavements and sustainability from James Loney, a Chartered Professional Civil Engineer with a history of working in the field of Pavement Engineering.