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Cornwall's Saltash Tunnel on the A38 trunk road is a crucial link between the county, and the neighbouring county of Devon, and is used by 38,000 motorists per day. Opened in 1988, the 410m long road tunnel in south-west England, is a single bore with three traffic lanes, and is part of the tidal flow system across the three-lane Tamar Bridge. The central lane has a speed limit of 30mph (48km/hour) and operates as a reversible lane to cope with holiday and rush hour traffic.

High performance backhoe loaders from Hidromek can compete with leading brands on performance - Mike Woof reports

Several manufacturers are now offering new solutions for moving heavy construction equipment, with German firms DOLL, Goldhofer and Zandt all introducing new models. DOLL says that its compact Panther units feature new running gear that is said to improve on-road handling and load capacity considerably over competing products in the same size class.

Asphalt testing is performed for a variety of reasons by a variety of companies. Patrick Smith reports Road safety is in the interest of everyone and today it is also an important target shared by the majority of the companies involved in road design and construction. The growing attention paid to this value has had a remarkable effect on the material testing field, encouraged by an increasing market demand for testing solutions as well as by the new technical requirements established by international st

Italian firm Indeco is now offering a novel compressor system that can be mounted on an excavator being used with a breaker in tunnelling operations.

Stringless concrete paving systems are easy to use for contractors - Daniel C Brown. With just a few days of training, Hawkins Construction is now up and running with stringless concrete paving technology. This year Hawkins started using the stringless technology on two Interstate highway paving projects, with a total contract value of US$78 million. The projects were on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska and the first section was for a 9.25km, 18.3m wide stretch of 330mm thick concrete pavement.

Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) is going ahead with plans to upgrade the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).

A Power Curbers 5700C machine is being used underground in Turkey to slipform the U-shaped concrete platforms on the walls of a new tunnel project.

Among the exhibitors, Ammann will show its new BlackMove II asphalt mixing plant, one of many new machines and mixing plants on the company's stand.

HTS now offers a sophisticated vehicle identity recognition (VIR) package, which offers key benefits over basic LPR technology. The VIR patentpending technology provides a comprehensive profile of each car including make, model, colour, country or state name and special plate icons.

Nurock Mixers has developed an innovative compact volumetric machine. Called the NUVM1.5, this unit was first seen as a prototype at the Intermat show in Paris in 2009 and is now being offered to the market. The NUVM1.5 can mix 1m³ of concrete in under three minutes using its combination of hoppers and hydraulics, while it can also produce screed, mortar or process recycled aggregates with a constant production rate at any cement content.

BASF claims that its latest innovation will help improve efficiency in tunnel construction operations. Developed by BASF's Construction Chemicals division the new Crystal Speed Hardening system (CSH) is an advanced admixture technology aimed directly at the tunneling market.

Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe)/HCME has celebrated the shipment of the 25,000th medium Hitachi Zaxis excavator at its factory in Amsterdam, Holland. The milestone machine, a ZX140W-3, represents "an impressive achievement" for the Japanese construction manufacturer and the largest of its European assembly plants. To mark the occasion, a special ceremony was held at the factory and was attended by guest speakers Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd president Mr Kikawa; HCME president Mr Tabei and

Major international companies are preparing for the 28th Samoter event being held in Verona, northern Italy, from 2-6 March. The event (www.samoter.com) will focus on the latest technology from the construction equipment market for the earthmoving, concrete, roadbuilding, drilling, tunnelling, quarrying, crushing, demolition and recycling, hoisting and handling, and transport/vehicles and components sectors.

Topcon Europe Positioning has introduced its 'next-generation' field controller technology with its new FC-250, which is designed to give users increased power and performance in a rugged and compact unit.

Work is progressing on-track on Sri Lanka's Southern Expressway project. This will be the country's first expressway and is expected to be completed by 2012, removing the bulk of traffic from the existing coastal road that is highly congested and also has serious safety issues.

Blastcrete Equipment Company says that its novel new Mason Mate system provides an innovative solution for concrete repair and shotcreting in tunnelling applications.

Manufacturers are producing innovative asphalt equipment, and operators are benefiting from this as Patrick Smithreports. Asphalt plant manufacturers and operators are understandably placing great emphasis on higher productivity but with lower costs. At the same time they are aware of environmental issues and the ever-increasing use of recycled material in mixes.

With the aid of services provided by Laidler Associates the refurbished Portumna road bridge in Galway has become the first bridge in the Ireland to carry European CE marking. The CE marking was needed because the swing bridge has moving parts, and falls within the scope of the Machinery Directive.

The Baluarte Bridge (Puente Baluarte), part of a major highway project, ranks among the most outstanding infrastructure projects ever constructed in Mexico.