A pilot project using a new technique to replace asphalt in Sudbury on three area roadways is at a standstill.

The hot-in-place recycling project started earlier this summer with work on part of the Kingsway, between Moonlight and Third Avenue, but the city issued a work stoppage last week.

The city says it’s pausing the project while awaiting quality assurance test results.

But officials with Road Surface Recycling, an Ajax-based company, said millions of dollars worth of equipment has been sitting idle in Sudbury for almost a week.

“We are recycling this road 100 per cent,” said Frank Crupi, of Road Surface Recycling.

“We are reusing the material on the road for its intended purpose. Its intended purpose is for the taxpayers to drive on it and we are doing it for about a fifth of the cost of conventional paving. And if you don’t do what we are doing here, it’s just going to end up in a stockpile somewhere.”

Company officials said they have a quality control lab on site and that material was meeting specification requirements set out by the city contract.

The city confirmed it sends the material to an independent certified lab for quality assurance testing. While some results are almost immediate others can take three to four weeks.

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