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A Colombian contractor tackles specifications for asphalt road work with Astec equipment.Award-winning Colombian contractor MHC has upgraded its Astec Portable Double Barrel plant to handle highway and other projects. The plant, installed in Bucaramanga, equipped with two RAP [recycled asphalt pavement] bins, a Double Barrel Green System, and one New Generation silo was bought by MHC in 2009. It has now received a second silo and a truck scale extension.

Tensar is making some key moves internationally, as well as in terms of market segments. The company is now marketing the GlasGrid range in the US and expects to develop healthy sales, however it sees major growth potential with the Geogrid product range. Jim Penman, director for bi-axial products & applications said: "One area we're moving into is base reinforcement and in particular what we're looking at is mechanistic emirical (ME) technology." Tensar has worked with the University of Illinois on a new d

Construction work on the longest bridge in Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. When completed, the cable-stayed bridge will have a two-lane carriageway and a motorcycle lane in each direction, and will connect Batu Kawan on the mainland to Seberang Perai and Batu Maung on Penang Island. The main span will be 250m long with a length over water of 17km and a 30m height above the water. Costing an estimated US$1.5 billion the 24km long bridge is being b

MINNESOTA CITIES including Minneapolis and Richfield have been testing pervious concrete on parking lots and other hard surfaces to improve storm water management. In Shoreview MN, the authorities went a stage further by opting to replace a storm drainage system with pervious concrete.

German firm Wirtgen is to begin marketing its concrete slipforming machines in the US, through its Wirtgen America operation. The move comes with the launch two new concrete slipformers developed just for the US market, the SP15 and SP25.

Russian operator company NCC (Nevskaya Concession Company) has placed an order with German manufacturer Herrenknecht for the world's largest tunnel boring machine (TBM). The Mixshield TBM, for construction of the Orlovski Tunnel, "will surpass all previous TBMs" with a diameter of 19.25m and it is designed to construct a mega-tunnel to link both halves of the centre of Russia's second city St Petersburg under the River Neva and speed up traffic.

A wide variety of new equipment and technology to assist production at asphalt plants is about to be launched onto the market, while asphalt producers are continuing to look at greener working practices. Guy Woodford reports. Lintec, in partnership with Loesche, recently created what they say is the world’s first containerised Coal Mill Plant for independent coal dust supply at the jobsite which offers mobility and high economic efficiency through the substitution of gas or oil with coal.

In Colombia the Government intends to invest US$170 million into the road networks of 23 departments. Repairs will be carried out to tackle damage caused by harsh winter weather. The authorities in Colombia’s Santander region also plan to improve road infrastructure. Meanwhile in Rionegro there have been calls to stop work on the Tunel del Oriente road and tunnel project, carried out by Conexion Vial Aburra-Oriente. The scheme has been criticised by environmental groups over inconsistencies with environment

Work on a 39km toll road linking Pemalang with Batang in Indonesia is expected to start in mid-2012, although the finance structure is still being established.

A new highway project in Texas will tackle peak congestion

Construction work on the 13.6km Gempol Pandaan toll road in East Java is commencing. The US$174.5 million project will take 18 months to complete and is expected to open for traffic in the third quarter of 2013.

A major highway deal has been agreed for a road project in Gujarat, India, worth an estimated US$810.8 million. It will be handled under the build, finance, operate and transfer basis and will involve upgrading and widening to six lanes a 102km section of National Highway 8 (NH-8) from Ahmedabad-Vadodara. The project also includes upgrading 92km of the existing Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway. Work is expected to take three years to complete, and the 25-year concession deal for the project has been a

In the Czech Republic tenders worth €146.15 million are now open for bids. The bidding process was started for the 50 tenders by the Czech Roads and Motorways Directorate (RSD). Most of the tenders relate to the D1 and D3 highway project, the Prague Ring Road and the R6 link between Prague and Karlovy Vary and for documentation and technical supervision of the upgrade works. RSD will also spend €32.4 million on the technical supervision of smaller projects in the next four years.

In the Czech Republic the road authorities are looking to address quality issues that have caused problems on the country’s roads and highways. The Czech Roads and Motorways Directorate (RSD) plans to check the quality of highways using vehicle-mounted scanning laser technology. This will allow RSD to launch repairs before potholes are formed. It is estimated that costs of the repairs will be cut by 30%. RSD tried a similar method of scanning in 2006 but the project was suspended because of a lack of fundin

Riga International Airport in Latvia is seeing growth in aircraft numbers and passengers, prompting a need for investment and upgrades.

A new southern bypass is planned for Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains area of Russia at an estimated cost of up to US$721.5 million. When complete, the bypass will connect the existing Chelyabinsk and Perm Highways. The state-owned road company Avtodor will work with the local government for the Sverdlovsk Region to finalise the details of the company building the link.

The Mongolian Government intends to boost investment in the country’s road network, part of a move to improve access in major towns and cities as well as connect outlying areas. With development of Mongolia’s mineral resources set to expand, new road links will be crucial to its economic future. The government has given approval for the construction of bridges and roads. This also includes repairing 35km of roads and building 25km of paved roads will be built in capital Ulaanbaatar.

BOMAG says that its new BF800 paver has now been well proven in tough working applications. The newly developed BF800 follows the same basic design principles of the smaller BF300 and BF600 models and weighs in at 20tonnes, with a maximum screed width of 2.5-10m. Extensive testing of the BF800 was carried out in an array of difficult operations and in late 2010 some 14,000tonnes of asphalt was laid in 3.5 days in 24-hour shifts to reconstruct the Brenner highway on the A22 near Bozen in northern Italy.

Controversy still surrounds a key road project in Bolivia. Local communities within the TIPNIS nature reserve are once again protesting against the project to build a new road, the ninth such march carried out so far. In all 64 communities in the TIPNIS reserve are being consulted on the construction of the second stretch of the Villa Tunari-San Ignacio de Moxos road, which is at the centre of the protests. The road is planned to be built through part of the reserve, although the authorities say the link wi

Praslin, the second-largest of the Seychelles Islands with roughly 6,500 inhabitants, is a tropical paradise of white sandy beaches, dense jungle and crystal clear seas. Tourism is the island's main source of income, and luxury tourism at that. A road had to be diverted for a new five-star hotel and property development project which will create jobs for around 400 people. The road would have obstructed the residents' access to the sea. Sey-Afrique Exporters from Pinetown, South Africa, won the contra