Alberta Stabilized Construction Entrances and Trackout Control
EPEA, the Water Act, Municipal Drainage Approvals, and Energy-Sector Construction
Alberta's construction runs from the Rocky Mountain foothills and the Bow and North Saskatchewan rivers through the fast-growing Calgary and Edmonton regions to the Athabasca oil sands and the oil, gas, and pipeline corridors of the north. Those activities move enormous volumes of earth, often on semi-arid prairie soils and near rivers that supply drinking water and fish habitat. On all of it, keeping sediment on the job site and off public roads is a core compliance duty, and a stabilized construction entrance is one of the first controls installed and inspected.
Alberta Environmental Regulation
Alberta regulates construction runoff under two main statutes administered by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas. The Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA) governs environmental approvals and, through the Release Reporting Regulation, requires immediate notification to the regulator of any release of a substance, including sediment, into a watercourse or surface water body. The Water Act governs the allocation and protection of water and the approvals needed for work in or near water bodies. Alberta projects also fall under the federal Fisheries Act, so letting construction sediment reach a fish-bearing water can carry federal liability in addition to provincial reporting obligations.
Municipal Drainage Approvals
Within Alberta's cities and towns, releasing water directly or indirectly into the municipal storm drainage system, which includes roadways and swales, requires approval, and municipalities set detailed erosion and sediment control expectations. The City of Calgary publishes Erosion and Sediment Control Guidelines and a Stormwater Management and Design Manual, and Edmonton and other municipalities require drainage and stormwater approvals with similar controls. An erosion and sediment control plan is prepared for the site, and the construction entrance is one of the controls inspectors watch most closely because tracked sediment moves straight from the road into the storm system.
The Aggregate Construction Entrance and Its Limits
Alberta's guidance, including the Alberta Transportation Erosion and Sediment Control Manual used on highway work, describes the traditional construction entrance as a pad of coarse aggregate over a geotextile fabric at every site exit, built to knock sediment loose from tires, with runoff directed to a sediment control. The manual notes that water is the predominant agent of erosion on construction sites, which is why keeping sediment contained at the exit matters.
The weakness of the aggregate pad is maintenance. As the stone compacts and fills with the fine prairie soils common across Alberta, it stops cleaning tires and must be topped up with fresh rock, and any material tracked onto the road has to be removed promptly. When the stone pad alone is not enough, a wheel wash sprays tires with pressurized water and drains to a sediment trap, a real burden on remote energy sites where water must be hauled, and one that can leave ice on the road through an Alberta winter. Each traditional option carries a recurring cost and a maintenance cycle that a durable manufactured entrance can avoid.
FODS as a Compliant Construction Entrance in Alberta
Alberta evaluates a construction entrance on whether it performs the required function, removing sediment from tires before vehicles reach the road, and the operator specifies the chosen practice in the erosion and sediment control plan. FODS Trackout Control Mats can be named directly in that plan as the site's stabilized construction entrance, satisfying the same purpose as the aggregate pad while removing the loose stone and the heavy maintenance the traditional design depends on. Keeping sediment out of the storm system also helps a project avoid a reportable release under EPEA and stay clear of Fisheries Act exposure near Alberta's rivers.
FODS Trackout Control System
The FODS Trackout Control System is a reusable, manufactured construction entrance made of high-density polyethylene mats with a pyramid-shaped surface that works like the rough edges of crushed stone. As vehicles pass, the pyramids deform the tires and open the tread so sediment breaks loose and collects in the voids between the pyramids, clear of the tires. Each mat measures about 3.7 metres by 2.1 metres, and the modular design lets contractors build the entrance to fit the site. On high-traffic projects the system has reduced street sweeping by 59 percent compared with aggregate.
FODS is well matched to Alberta's mix of urban and energy work. Because it uses no water, there is no wheel-wash supply to haul to remote well pads and pipeline spreads, and no ice risk in winter, and because it uses no rock, there is no loose aggregate to be tracked onto the road or thrown from dual tires. The mats install over any substrate without excavation and can be relocated quickly as work advances, which suits the linear and phased construction that defines the province's energy sector. Maintenance is a quick pass with a skid steer broom, a powered sweeper, or a FODS shovel, and with a service life of more than ten years the same mats can be reused across projects, which shifts the cost of a construction entrance from a recurring expense to a one-time investment.
Risks of Vehicle Trackout on Roadways
Safety is a primary concern wherever construction traffic meets a public road. Aggregate exits deposit stone and debris onto pavement, creating hazards for drivers and workers, and loose rock can lodge between dual tires and be thrown at speed. Wheel washes add the burden of supplying and containing water on remote and arid sites and, in cold weather, the risk of dripping vehicles building ice on the road. FODS uses a rockless, water-free technique to clean tires and does not carry the same risk of injury or liability as aggregate entrances. The mats are durable and reusable across many projects, which reduces the environmental impact tied to aggregate production, hauling, and disposal. On Alberta sites that drain to the Bow, the North Saskatchewan, the Athabasca, or the Peace, keeping stone and sediment off the road also helps keep it out of the water and out of fish habitat protected under the Fisheries Act.
Additional Resources
Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA)
Alberta Environment and Protected Areas
Alberta Transportation Erosion and Sediment Control Manual
City of Calgary Erosion and Sediment Control Guidelines