Features

The crushing and screening sector has seen a flurry of new model launches in recent months, with a series of new equipment introductions - Mike Woof writes. Crushing and screening systems play a vital role in the overall cost effectiveness of a quarrying operation. Ensuring that a quarry runs efficiently relies heavily on the appropriateness of the entire crushing and screening set-up for the material input, the output grades and the compatibility of each separate unit. Mobility has been a key issue in rece

Two major developments being introduced will help optimise traffic flow on routes carrying high volumes of vehicles/day. An installation of Flexicon’s flexible conduit will help keep the traffic flowing on one of the busiest sections of the M6 motorway through Birmingham by protecting power and data cabling for overhead gantries and CCTV cameras. On behalf of Highways England, who is implementing a hard shoulder running scheme between junctions 5 and 8, contractor’s Carillion is using the 63mm diameter L

Gülay Malkoc discusses the importance of investing in road maintenance.

Fast repair of Cairo’s busy urban highway has been achieved using paving equipment. And MOBA levelling technology played an important role in ensuring finish quality met requirements. Cairo is Egypt’s fast-growing capital city, with an estimated population of around 20 million living in its catchment area. The city’s fast growth rate however has placed enormous demands on its infrastructure, with transportation creaking under the strain. An increasing numbers of people use the roads in and around Cairo ev

In 2013, 7,600 people died in road traffic while cycling or walking in European Union (EU) countries – the equivalent of a commercial airliner full of passengers being lost every week Because of this risk of death, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) wants vehicle manufacturers and local authorities to pay special attention to improving safety for cyclists, walkers and pedestrians. In a new report, the ETSC said the numbers being killed are falling more slowly than those for vehicle occupants. Over

This new analysis has been published by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). According to the ETSC data, 2014 showed the lowest annual reduction in EU road deaths since 2001. In all 25,845 people were killed in road crashes in the 28 nations of the EU during 2014. This represented a decrease of just 0.6% compared to 2013. EU member states now need to cut deaths by almost 8% each year until 2020 to meet the target set in 2010 to halve deaths within a decade.

A series of formwork developments are helping with challenging bridge construction projects around the world - Mike Woof writes In the Polish city of Krakow, a cost-effective cable stayed bridge is being constructed using a balanced cantilever technique. The current expansion of the Krakow metropolitan railway network (KST) requires the building of a crossing of the Krakow-Plaszow railway junction. Ensuring that daily rail operations remained unaffected during the construction of the 252m long crossing w

Rebuilding of one of the oldest motorways in Germany is testing out the possibilities for public-private project road construction reports Adrian Greeman A freshly renovated section of the A8 Autobahn in southern Germany will be watched with some interest this summer as traffic begins driving along its rebuilt carriageway and additional third lanes. That is not because of any special road features, other than a distinctive reddish colour to its concrete surface, but because it is a first fullscale public

So far 14 organisations have joined forces to make the 1st IRF Europe & Central Asia Regional Congress a hub for up-to-date regional knowledge and industry practices. Leading stakeholder organisations ranging from the South East Europe Transport Observatory to the Turkish Asphalt Contractors Association (ASMUD) have provided key policy input and will be holding side sessions on topics closely connected to core themes of the Congress. “ASMUD creates and supports organising the platforms in national and inte

The wealth of experiences and ideas shared during the recent 4th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress underscored the International Road Federation’s value in shaping policy contributions to global transportation challenges ranging from resilient infrastructure to road safety. The regional congress coincided with the start of the 3rd United Nations Global Road Safety Week, an initiative aimed at fostering discussion and awareness-raising in more than 100 countries. The event was run by the IRF Washington office

The IRF Geneva said that India has the dubious distinction of claiming the highest number of fatalities by road crashes. More than 10% of road-related deaths occur in India alone, and this poses a serious challenge, being the major killer of young and productive lives. While India’s infrastructure programme is being lauded all over the world and high rate of growth has been achieved for the 1.25 billion strong democracy, a significant 3% of the GDP is lost every year due to the uncontrolled and unmanaged

The International Road Federation (IRF Geneva), the Transport Planning and Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport of China (TPRI), and the China Highway and Transportation Society (CHTS) will be hosting a major conference in the beautiful city of Chongqing, China on 20th-22nd September 2015. The call for abstracts is now open. Chongqing was separated from Sichuan province and made into a municipality in its own right in March 1997 in order to accelerate its development. Since its elevation to nati

Geosynthetic materials are increasing its significance in many applications in the civil and underground engineering. One of such application is in foundation stabilization for roads. A life cycle assessment (LCA) study on behalf of the European Association for Geosynthetic Manufacturers (EAGM)1 has re-vealed that the use of geosynthetic materials will contribute for sustainable highways. In road construction the sub-base needs to meet defined requirements for compaction and bearing ca-pacity. Improveme

A historic route in the US state of Arkansas has benefited from the use of machine control during its upgrade The south-west - north-east US Route 67 in Arkansas has long been a significant transport route. This old road follows the natural break between the Ozark Mountains and the Ouachita Mountains. In the 1920s, funding became available for road paving, and the route was designated US Route 67.

Improving technologies for machine control systems continue to deliver increases in efficiency for contractors - Mike Woof writes Machine control technologies have continued to develop as the specialist suppliers in this fiercely fought sector seek to find a competitive advantage over their rivals. The key players, Leica Geosystems, MOBA, Topcon and Trimble, have all been pushing the boundaries with their latest technologies. Although the systems these firms are introducing are aimed at a number of differen