Paradox Access Solutions is a

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

company specializing in customized access solutions for companies who need temporary or permanent roadways built on unstable terrain, such as

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...

. The company is located in

Acheson, Alberta Acheson is a locality and an industrial area in Alberta, Canada, within Parkland County. Acheson is located on the Canadian National (CN) main line and Highway 60 (Devonian Way) between Highway 16A (Parkland Highway) and Highway 16 (Yellowhead ...

with distribution nodes across Alberta and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

About

Paradox Access Solutions was founded in 2004 by Marc Breault, who holds six

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s relating to roadway construction. In 2012, the company formed an engineering firm to provide

geotechnical Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It als ...

engineering expertise. In the aftermath of the

2016 Fort McMurray wildfire On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their ho ...

, the company assisted with road restoration into affected communities, creating 40 km of temporary roads in a little over week. It also donated used mats to regional nature trail construction groups to aid in trail stabilization and sustainability. In 2018, the company began work to restore the Hudson Bay Railway to

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

, which was washed out by floods in May, 2017. Paradox provided railbed restoration while Cando Rail repaired the rails.

Products and services

The company is a provider of wooden, rubber and composite mats (often called

rig mat An access mat is a portable platform used to support equipment used in construction and other resource-based activities, including drilling rigs, camps, tanks, and helipads. It may also be used as a structural roadway to provide passage over unstab ...

s or swamp mats), intended to provide stable, if temporary, roadways for industrial applications, such as in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

, pipeline access,

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

, and

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

corridors. The mats are placed in the spring when the ground thaws and removed later in the year when the ground re-freezes, providing extended access to industrial sites in locations where traditional access construction methods are ill suited, due to location, cost or sensitive environmental conditions. These mats may also be used in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

and paved or unpaved public or private

road surface A road surface (British English), or pavement (American English), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, hoggin, cobbles ...

s applications.

Tough Cell

Paradox Access Solutions is the sole Canadian distributor of a product called Tough Cell, a

Novel polymeric alloy Novel polymeric alloy (NPA) is a polymeric alloy composed of polyolefin and thermoplastic engineering polymer with enhanced engineering properties. NPA was developed for use in geosynthetics. One of the first commercial NPA applications was in th ...

cellular confinement Cellular confinement systems (CCS)—also known as geocells—are widely used in construction for erosion control, soil stabilization on flat ground and steep slopes, channel protection, and structural reinforcement for load support and earth ...

product known as Neology geocell. Once the honeycomb-shaped geotextile is placed, it's filled with sand, gravel, dirt, or other locally available materials, and then compressed. The honeycomb shape is able to support heavy equipment by redirecting downward energy outward, “decreasing differential settlement of soft subgrades,” providing soil confinement, stabilization, and reinforcement. The resulting surface is functional in very cold (-60C) to very hot (60C) conditions. The product is notable for its use of local, rather than imported, aggregate materials. In addition to temporary roadway applications, it has also been approved for municipal road construction projects.

References

{{Reflist Construction and civil engineering companies of Canada Geotechnical engineering companies Companies based in Alberta Privately held companies of Canada Construction and civil engineering companies established in 2004 Canadian companies established in 2004 2004 establishments in Alberta