Concrete may seem like a bit of a dry subject, but when over $30
billion is being spent annually on road maintenance alone in the
US, and everybody in the country knows of roads that are still
badly in need of repair, it quickly becomes evident how
important it is to make them as durable as possible. In Canada,
the problem is even worse. Extreme temperatures, plus the salt
and the scraping that comes with them, generate myriad problems
for road crews and government budgets there. Which is one reason
why they have a National Research Council Institute for Research
in Construction. And the driving reason that one of this
department's projects is called Sustainability and Durability of
Reinforced High-Performance Concrete Structures. The project's
leader, Daniel Cusson, has recently appeared in the Ottawa
Citizen, announcing a breakthrough in concrete technology, in
which they have developed a crack-resistant version that is more
durable than any other concrete available today. The
implications are significant,