Features

A novel technique is now being introduced in the UK that can help cut construction costs, as well as the time needed for road repairs. Connect Plus, the company that finances, operates and upgrades the 400km M25 network on behalf of the UK’s Highways Agency, has pioneered an innovative method for the replacement of life-expired concrete motorway The introduction of this method is helping reduce the delays experienced by drivers by as much as 80% in the sections of road where it is now being implemented.

Transnational collaboration on road infrastructure innovation is the aim of the ERA-NET Plus (EN Plus) Infravation event. The Infravation 2014 Call for this collaboration of 11 countries on road infrastructure innovation will be launched on 3rd March 2014. It will pool funding of some €9 million, of which one-third comes from the European Commission (EC). For the first time, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will also contribute funding to an EN Plus Call however. This is a major development and

Paolo Fellin, vice president of Caterpillar’s Global Construction & Infrastructure Division, has touched on the importance of the new dominance of booming African and other Emergent nation construction markets. Guy Woodford reports For Paolo Fellin, the last 10 years have seen the birth of a new order in world construction equipment sales.

Indonesian infrastructure investment is seeing major highway expansion - Simon Gould writes Over the next 12 years, Indonesia has planned some massive infrastructure investments, under a master plan aimed at bringing it up to developed country status by 2025. Its Government’s Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia's Economic Development (MP3EI) envisages infrastructure spending of US$400 billion between 2011 and 2025 to help achieve this (see sidebar for more on MP3EI). With limited funds of