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In determining the mechanical strength of cement, the European Standard EN 196 prescribes both compressive and flexural tests, so when Italian company Tecnotest designed its current generation of cement testing machines, the aim was to obtain highly accurate results over the full scale despite the wide range involved by implementing a dual scale in a single test bay, using load cells as dynamometers.

The UK's new Hindhead Tunnel is now open to traffic. The ?420 million (£371 million) tunnel runs under the Devil's Punch Bowl in Surrey and will reduce congestion, while boosting safety on the busy A3 route.

In India a total of eight road projects worth US$1.43 billion have been given approval by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Police in Ireland have finally managed to find out why a Polish driver who had racked up over 50 separate offences had never been caught. One police officer realised that the name written on the paperwork recording each incident meant driving licence in Polish and that the one driver named was in fact 50 different people. Until that point Irish officers had mistakenly written the words Prawo Jazdy, which is printed on the top of a Polish driving licence as being the name of the offending driver. Despite the

Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) will re-open highway concessions worth over US$1 billion shortly.

In Kenya a judge found himself facing a judge following a fracas at the roadside. The judge was driving his official car, a Mercedes, when it was involved in an accident with another vehicle. The two cars stopped following the minor crash and there was a disagreement, which quickly boiled over and ended with the other driver being taken to hospital, having been stabbed in the stomach. The judge claimed that the other driver was drunk and had then fallen on his own knife as the dispute escalated. However the

New York Mayor Bloomberg has unveiled a new, technology-based traffic management system that allows city traffic engineers to monitor and respond to Midtown Manhattan traffic conditions in real time, improving traffic flow on the city’s most congested streets.

MB S.p.A. of Italy has launched the first of a new generation in its bucket crusher range following the successful launch of the units in 2007. According to the company, which currently exports to more than 100 countries, applications for MB bucket crushers, which fit a variety of excavator sizes (and which also include an iron separator) are many.

A woman in the Austrian city of Graz has had to go to jail for 500 days, for ignoring parking tickets.

The southern section of Serbia's Corridor 10 highway is now carrying traffic, with only final works needed to complete the link.

In Bosnia delays have affected the construction work on the country's key Corridor 5c highway project. So far 37km of the 336km Corridor 5c highway has been built, with 21km under construction and a further 43km section being cleared for work to commence.

Indeco's innovative HP18000 hydraulic hammer is now being proven in a tough demolition application in the US. The Italian company hopes to sell more of its innovative HP18000 models now that its class-leading hydraulic system is proving its worth in the field. Tipping the scales at an impressive 11tonnes, the HP18000 is now the biggest breaker available on the market anywhere and is designed for use on carriers that weigh up to 140tonnes. Some 4.6m long and with a 250mm diameter tool, the HP18000 can delive

Drilling work on the Blanka road tunnel in Czech capital Prague has now been completed.

Israel's city of Ashdod will be connected to Highway 6 when a new highway project being planned at present has been completed.

The Nepalese Government is setting out plans for the quality and standards of construction and maintenance of roads and bridges.

India is pushing hard with its highway expansion programme, according to Brijeshwar Singh, chairman of the National Highway Authority India (NHAI).

Plans are in hand in the Ukraine's Crimea area for a new 93km highway.

Work on a new access road to connect the Vietnamese city of Hanoi with the nearby airport is now commencing.

In China, Sichuan Province is placing a high value on road upgrades and improvements.

Tough political decisions have to be made to ensure highway investment - *Dr Max Lay reports