The County of Essex is partnering with the university and local engineering firm MEDA in a new technique for doing bridge repairs.
MEDA President David Lawn is hoping to build the use of the material with an eye to eventually manufacturing it here.
It's a fabric made of fibres extruded from molten volcanic rock, that's applied with an epoxy in a technique similar to fibreglas.
The County is using the material to do repair work on the Merrick Creek Bridge at Howard Avenue and County Road 8.
It has been extensively tested in the laboratory at the University of Windsor and this is a chance to try it in the field.
Lawn says it strengthens the repaired area and protects it from corrosion: "they'll put another layer and let it cure and what will happen is it will act as a stronger bond to what's there. So it'll prevent future flexing and damage to that repair"
MEDA Engineering Manager Sara Kenno started working with the material while a student at the university, she says a grant covers part of this project: "part of that money we applied for was earmarked for a field project so after they had enough positive results in the lab we had to find a viable location to be able to apply the material and find the same things they were finding in the lab"
County Engineer Tom Bateman sees a lot of benefit from this technique if it holds up: "it's an opportunity to get on to these bridge structure before they deteriorate to the point where you need to replace them and this product allows us to do an advanced repair that has a lot longer lifecycle than traditional. It's all about cost avoidance and cost deference using this product"
The expectation is that the repair will extend the life of the bridge for 10 or more years at a cost of a few thousand dollars, instead of replacing it at a cost of millions.