Northern highway connection for France
Plans are now in hand for a new 18km stretch of highway in France.
Netherlands new link
Despite years of objections and delays, the A4 highway extension project in the Netherlands is now to go ahead.
AUSA's increased orders for all product lines
Spanish company AUSA says it has closed the first half of 2011 showing growth across all its business indicators.
Number plate recognition tools
CitySync is offering an array of new tools for the traffic sector. The JellyBean is a mobile automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera aimed at use by enforcement agencies and is designed specifically to be mounted on police vehicles. This advanced dual ANPR camera incorporates mono and colour overview cameras, uses sophisticated infra-red LED technology and features a compact and durable casing.
Fast and accurate surveying
According to Leica Geosystems, its new HDS6100 unit is an improved, ultra-high speed laser scanner for survey applications. The Leica HDS6100 features several upgrades over the earlier HDS6000 scanner being replaced. These include a 37% increase in the temperature range (now -10ºC to +45ºC), a battery life of 2.5 hours, an integrated wireless LAN (WLAN) scanner control option and reduced noise at ranges of 25-50m.
Advanced technologies will increase the wear life of bitumen further
Bitumen has been used for thousands of years, but now a wide variety of products are available that can be added to it to produce blends with improved properties. According to the Refined Bitumen Association (RBA) bitumen is the oldest known engineering material. Indeed, the organisation says that its versatility as a construction material is unparalleled, and having been used as an adhesive, sealant and waterproofing agent for over 8,000 years, its uses include the construction and maintenance of roads, ai
Pothole problem
A British driver suffered a particularly serious pothole problem recently, which resulted in his vehicle being seriously damaged. Flooding along the busy A464 in Shropshire caused subsidence under the road, which then entirely washed away a section of the surface leaving a 1.2m deep hole.
New York cabbies
Meanwhile in New York City, one cabbie has earned praised for his honesty. A passenger accidentally left a bag containing valuables worth US$100,000 in the cab when taking a trip across the city. When the passenger realised his mistake, he assumed he would never see the valuables again
Gulf congress focuses on infrastructure challenges
The Kingdom of Bahrain will host the 3rd IRF Middle East Regional Congress & Exhibition which runs January 9-11, 2012.
Conference highlights Mexico's highway investment
At the recent PIARC World Road Conference in Mexico City the country’s president, Felipe Calderon, made a keynote opening address. Calderon emphasised that infrastructure investment and expansion forms a crucial component in the country’s future economy and as such, has been a priority for his administration.
Calderon took office in 2006 and by the end of this year Mexico will have built or rebuilt some 19,000km of roads and highways in the country. Due to its proximity to the US, Mexico is highly dependen
Economic and environmental asphalt recycling
Recycling materials offers the road ahead for highway construction - * Don Brock writes. Recycling has been used in the US for over 50 years in various industries. Today, steel is 100% recycled, and many other products that we have can be recycled.Environmental groups have aggressively pushed industries to recycle more, but it is either economically driven or legislatively driven.In the highway industry it has predominately been economically driven and discouraged by stakeholders such as aggregate producers
Self-climbing formwork solution for bridge pylons
Harsco Infrastructure has provided self-climbing formwork (SCF), which is helping ensure quick and safe access during the construction of a 320m tall pylon for the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge.
Smart cabbies
Taxi drivers in the UK town of Preston have now been told to follow strict rules regarding the clothes that they wear as well as their personal health. The local authorities now require taxi drivers to dress in smart clothes and are also telling the cabbies to get fit, lose weight and stop smoking.
Parking problem
An Australian couple caused something of a parking problem with their vehicle in a quiet residential Sydney side-street. The issue was that their vehicle should have been in the air rather than on the ground, as it was a single engine Piper aircraft.
Kwikform composite bridge formwork solution
Composite bridge specialist falsework, Paraslim, from RMD Kwikform is being used to construct a viaduct and rail over-bridge in Wales. Paraslim is supporting the £35 million (US$55.7 million) A487 Porthmadog, Minffordd and Tremadog Bypass constructed by a joint venture partnership of Balfour Beatty and Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK.
A seminar on how effective strategies for road maintenance will boost working life
One of the major components of public infrastructure is the transportation group. This group mainly includes the road network, airports, railroads, and ports.
Addressing road safety issues worldwide
Actions are planned on road safety but are they enough? - *Charles Melhuish and *Alan Ross report.
Deaths and injuries on the world's roads are now a major health concern. Road crashes now cause around 1.3 million deaths and injure or disable as many as 50 million persons globally each year. The vast majority of these deaths and injuries (over 90%) occur in low- and medium- income countries adding to their already overburdened health facilities as well as adversely affecting economic and social development
Vehicle scrappage scheme not really 'green'
In Europe, considerable political noise is being made over a new vehicle scrappage scheme that is said to be better for the environment.
Fuel efficient hybrid excavator design
Sunward has focussed particularly on building small-medium sized machines, said Li Lihong of the firm. An innovative development from Sunward is its new hybrid excavator design. This 22.6tonne machine has been developed with a view to offering lower fuel consumption than conventional excavators in its size class. As fuel prices are high in China, a hybrid machine offers incentives to the customer base and is said to be most effective in operations requiring slewing, such as for production truck loading. Pow
Speed awareness programme reduces repeat offending
The satellite navigation leads me along a series of minor roads until it chirps, "You have arrived at your destination." And there is the sports centre I've been looking for, so I indicate, turn into the entrance and squeeze my car into the last narrow parking space available. I'm here to attend an innovative road safety programme being carried out in the UK on speed awareness. Drivers caught just over the speed limit have the option of points on their license, and subsequent increases in insurance costs, o