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A new way of working has been launched for the UK highways maintenance and management industry.

The bridge over Auckland Harbour celebrates its half century this year, and it has been given a major upgrade to ensure that safety is maintained in New Zealand's largest city. Mary Searle reports. Auckland is New Zealand's largest city, home to nearly a third of the entire country's population. It's a sprawling metropolis, and its 1.3 million people are spread over 637km² of city, suburbs and islands. The Auckland Harbour Bridge, which celebrates its 50th birthday in May, is a vital link in the city's road

A new Power Curbers 5700-C-MAX machine is being used on a slipforming project in Tampa, Florida in the USA. The project involves major upgrades to the road link, which is being widened from two lanes to four, with two lanes in either direction. The C-MAX package from Power Curbers allows the 5700 machine to pave wider and higher forms than before. This operation involves the construction of new concrete kerbs and

Tougher legislation on tunnel safety means that Norway will have to invest heavily in upgrading underground road links.

A crushing and screening system comprising Sandvik mobile machines is proving useful on a project in Brazil. Construction work on the BR-222 highway in the city of Irauçuba, in the Ceará state close to the equator in the northeast of Brazil is benefiting from a fleet of Sandvik crushing and screening units. The mobile machines in use include a QA450 triple deck screener, QH330 cone crusher and QJ340 jaw crusher. The project involves upgrading the BR-222 highway, which joins the cities of Fortaleza and Sobra

Efficient crushing and screening processes help produce quality products, Mike Woof reports. Having an efficient crushing and screening operation is crucial to the cost-effectiveness of a quarry as well as providing the best quality product. The crushing circuit is a key component in any quarry with the right selection of equipment as well as effective maintenance important factors in optimising performance.

Two men were recently caught cycling at night in New Zealand without clothing. The men escaped charges of offensive behaviour but were given warnings to wear protective headgear. The policewoman who stopped the pair was less shocked than the two young men, who were riding around the Coromandel seaside resort of Whangamata on the north-east coast of New Zealand. They tried to cover themselves with their hands from the stern view of the forces of law and order and explained that they wanted to experience tota

Regular readers of this page in World Highways will be familiar with a South Korean market trader who has clocked a record number of attempts at passing a driving test. The woman has finally passed after 950 attempts, having taken the written exam on a near-daily basis since April 2005. Although this written test requires a 60% pass mark she had repeatedly scored 30-50%. However, the 68 year old grandmother still needs to get behind the wheel to pass the practical portion of the test before being allowed a

Eagle-eyed Spanish police have foiled a clever attempt to smuggle drugs into the country, using a decoy support vehicle for a major race event. The criminals tried to use the Dakar Rally held earlier this year as a front for their drug smuggling activities in an attempt with a plotline worthy of a Hollywood gangster movie.

Using MOBA MDS-2000 drilling system controls to monitor blast hole drilling in a limestone quarry is helping ensure optimum accuracy.

In the Australian city of Sydney a woman driver was convicted of murder after running down a man who had thrown cheese-flavoured snacks at her car. The woman had drunk two bottles of wine in addition to consuming a cocktail of drugs that included cannabis, amphetamines and anti-depressants.

Superior Industries is widening its line of Chevron wing pulleys. The new units are designed for construction applications and can be used in light duty, portable conveyors that make infrequent starts and stops. The wing pulleys retain the firm's patented v-shape construction, which is said to help deflect material and prevent it from lodging. The company claims that the design performs better in tough applications than standard wing pulleys. Because the risk of material becoming trapped between the pulley

A 50-year-old British man is well on track to becoming the country's worst driver. The man has over 110 driving offences on his record and is said to regularly break driving bans, despite living a short distance from a police station. He was recently stopped by police for driving while disqualified and for not having a licence, despite having been due to face a sentence on similar charges. The man has explained that he needs to drive as his job is as a mobile DJ. In all he has been banned from driving 59 ti

According to E-Z Drill, its Model 210 drill attachment series offers versatility and performance.The three model series is compatible with most model of backhoes and excavators and the pneumatic drills offer specially-designed features for maximum productivity and reduced maintenance. The units are capable of drilling 15.9-63.5mm holes, at a depth of 457mm.

The new Caterpillar 621H, 623H and 627H scrapers are said to deliver productivity and operator comfort and efficiency.

Teknomak, along with its president Saruhan Sarioglu, will celebrate a 20-year friendship with the Ammann Group in 2011.

A US manufacturer aims to meet international demand for a car that can also fly. The vehicle is rather snappily called The Transition and is being built by a firm called Terrafugia. The vehicle requires a conventional airstrip for take-offs and landings, however its wings can also be folded back so that it can be driven on the road like a car and even parked in a garage. Its single engine drives the propellor when the vehicle is in the air and also turns the wheels when it is being driven on the ground. The

Parker Hannifin has improved its range of icount online particle and moisture detectors. The firm now offers an innovative self-contained, portable device for measuring quality and cleanliness of hydraulic oils and fuels. Called the icountOS (Oil Sampler), this competitively priced system features a laser detection particle counter, battery and pump.

A new tunnel is being proposed in the Netherlands between The Hague and Delft.

A VW enthusiast has gone to great lengths to recover the wreck of a particularly rare model. The VW, a 1957 Samba, had been pushed into a Swiss lake in 1974 when its previous owner became distressed at the vehicle's gearbox problems. However, the model, which features no less than 23 windows with eight in the roof alone, is one of the most sought after VW Campers and when one avid enthusiast heard of its existence, he hired a remote-controlled submersible to try to find it. After a search the submersible lo