Features

Innovative formwork solutions are helping to get projects completed on or before time, meaning savings in time and money as Patrick smith reports. The use of flexible, modular formwork to create innovative structures out of concrete is helping to increase productivity and thus drive down completion time and costs.

Companies are coming up with innovative formwork solutions to overcome "challenging" designs for bridges. Patrick Smith reports

A survey of a number of Europe's motorway filling stations have thrown up surprising results: some good, some bad. Experts from EuroTest have travelled almost 34,000km to check out 77 filling stations along the most important travel routes in Europe. Keeping a close eye on cameras and staff that might "blow their cover," the results they brought home with them showed that not a single facility [visited] warranted a very good rating.

An authority replaces container wharf pavement damaged by forklift loads in world's first commercial use of high-performance asphalt base course. By Paul Fournier

The International Road Federation's (IRF) conference in Portuguese capital Lisbon was a major success, attracting 1,500 industry professionals from all over the world

GTZ highlights a pioneering scheme illustrating the potential of Bus Rapid Transit systems as a viable approach to alleviate the traffic and social problems faced by large cities worldwide

Demolition is a highly specialised business, as the machinery required to carry out the work on high-rise demolition contracts can be very site specific. Today's high reach demolition rig is no longer simply a tracked excavator with a long boom, indeed some machines cannot be used as excavators at all. Likewise a machine that is dedicated to carrying a 2.5 or 3tonne shear or hammer will need to be built to take the stresses and strains of demolition life.

The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility and IRF work together to reduce the toll of road deaths and serious injuries in low and middle-income countries

The sector for machine guidance systems is growing fast as contractors become more and more aware of the benefits of using this technology. Increased speed, working accuracy and cost effectiveness are key benefits of this technology, with just three firms, Trimble, Topcon and the Hexagon Group, dominating the market. The Hexagon Group is perhaps the newest entrant to the sector, having acquired Leica Geosystems and Scanlaser in recent years. John Fraser is sales and marketing manager at Scanlaser, and expla

From the highway to the parking space: message sign technology has proved that it simplifies wayfinding Variable message signs (VMS) are often located at key decision points on busy highways to help manage the network by providing advanced warning to drivers of emergencies and incidents. They are also used to warn drivers of events that may cause delays in the future such as road works and major events. An example comes from the USA where, to stimulate economies and refresh downtown areas, cities are build

The fabled Silk Route from China to Europe takes many forms, and is again becoming increasingly important as Patrick Smithreports The ancient Silk Road was never a single caravan route, but covered hundreds of kilometres in width extending in length for around 10,000km. This is the view of the European International Road Transport Union (IRU), and many other countries and organisations, who point out that it is a system of routes covering many countries via a series of branch roads that dates back some 2

Special bitumen mixes and machines are capable of improving the service life of roads and reducing noise. Mike Woof and Patrick Smith report. The need to improve traffic flow in an important part of the City of Poznan, Poland, led to the decision to build a new 1.13km long dual carriageway.

Innovative uses are being made of GPS technology, Mike Woof reports. US firms Creighton Manning Engineering and Delaney Construction have made a novel use of GPS technology in a project for the Route 85 Slingerlands bypass extension in the US.

In the first article of a three-part series on preventive maintenance, Alan S. Kercher, of Kercher Engineering, highlights the value to road agencies of a properly implemented pavement preservation programme For many road agencies, the budget for maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction (MR&R) of their roads is focused mainly on the pavements that are in the worst condition. In the short term, this common approach may seem very logical. However, when focused on expensive structural improvements,

IRF is now accepting entries for the 2010 edition of its annual awards competition, the Global Road Achievement Awards (GRAA). The deadline for submission of projects is 31 May, 2010. IRF began this prestigious annual programme as a means to publicise the benefits the road industry makes to global economies and the positive impact road development has on societies around the world. Since the launch of the competition in 2000, more than 70 projects from two dozen countries have been recognised for their cont