One of them is the improvement of design, construction and maintenance of unpaved roads. This is the ultimate intent of the Division of Environmental Quality-sponsored Low-Volume Roads Engineering Training Workshop held at the Hyatt on Oct. 25-28.
The training was attended by representatives of various government agencies and is one of the components of the $2.7 million Laolao Bay Road & Coastal Management and Improvement Plan funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grant is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and DEQ.
In an interview on Tuesday, Tim Lang, DEQ’s Laolao Bay project manager, said the project consists of road and drainage construction, stream-crossing construction, road grading, engineering design, installation of vehicle barriers, a public awareness campaign, marine monitoring and re-vegetation.
Lang said the workshop focused on planning, design, construction and maintenance of unpaved, low-volume roads.
Low-volume roads, he said, are smaller roads that don’t get a lot of traffic. These are secondary or tertiary roads, and there are many of them on island.
These roads are aggregates (typically crushed coral) mixed with soil particles. Although compacted for vehicles to drive on, they are not paved, so the surface is not hard enough to protect itself from erosion caused by heavy rains.
Lang said the soil particles (sediment) from the road surface get carried by storm water into channels and streams, and large amounts of this sediment ends up in nearshore waters like Laolao Bay and the Saipan lagoon.
Sedimentation smothers corals and coralline algae, limiting their growth. By providing nutrients, sedimentation can also cause the growth of turf and macro algae which compete with reef builders for space and light. Ultimately, sedimentation is a major contributor to the degradation of the CNMI’s reef habitats.
Lang said improving low-volume roads involves determining how to best direct stormwater runoff. There are different types of structures that can facilitate that based on the natural terrain.
The training at the Hyatt, he said, helped people understand natural terrain so they could decide the best way and proper place to construct roads and related drainage structures.
The workshop trainers were Jim Sherar and Gordon Kellar, both veterans of the U.S. Forest Service, which maintains the largest network of unpaved, low-volume roads in the United States.
The Forest Service is considered the leading authority on the design and maintenance of such roads.
Moreover, Sherar and Keller are the authors of a highly regarded and frequently referenced manual aimed at road design in tropical environments.
The manual reflects the authors’ rich knowledge from experiences throughout the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Micronesia.
DEQ partner agencies that participated in the workshop include the Department of Public Works, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the Coastal Resource Management Office, the mayor’s offices of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, the Historic Preservation Office, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Services and NOAA.
Lang said it is DEQ’s hope that the participants will take the knowledge they gained from the workshop and apply it to their work.
Their work, he added, has a tremendous impact on the islands’ natural environment, and therefore, on the present and future well-being of the commonwealth.
