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Nyx completes snowshed lighting in Canada Parks Canada has installed the Tunnel Lighting Addressable Control System (TLACS) from Nyx Hemera in the five snowsheds of Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park. Over the past five years, Parks Canada has been upgrading infrastructure in Rogers Pass - 1,330m above sea level - including the installation of LED luminaires and an intelligent lighting control system. A snowshed, similar to a tunnel, is a concrete cover built over a road to protect traffic from avalan

Kapsch TrafficCom Australia will deliver the tolling roadside system for the West Gate Tunnel Project under construction in Melbourne, Australia. Kapsch TrafficCom Australia was contracted by CPB Contractors John Holland Joint Venture to deliver the technology. It will be based upon the company’s single gantry multilane free-flow platform and next-generation stereoscopic vision technology for both vehicle detection and classification as well as automatic number plate recognition. “Almost 20 years ago Kaps

The Freeway Tunnel Ventilation On-Demand System for Melbourne’s EastLink project picked up the top Industry Award category at the recent 9th ITS Australia National Awards Traditional tunnel ventilation systems are inefficient. Fans operate at fixed speed in manual mode or with individual fans programmed to switch on and off at preset times to ensure zero portal emissions with all emissions dispersed via ventilation stacks. EastLink’s new ventilation on demand – VoD - system matches variable speed fan

Civil and electrical engineering firm McCann said it has added to its portfolio of LED lighting replacement projects with a contract in North Lincolnshire, England. McCann started the two-year contract in October 2017 but finished it around 10 months early, the company said. Installation centred on the town of Scunthorpe and the surrounding area to replace and upgrade 19,000 lanterns that include energy-saving LED technology. McCann said that the installation of these lanterns will produce a significant a

A new proposal has been put forward for Los Angeles suggesting that a congestion charging scheme be introduced to help tackle the city’s transport woes. According to the CEO of the Los Angeles Metro system, the revenue from the congestion charge for drivers could then be used to allow people to use the city’s transit system for free. Many US cities depend heavily on road transport for carrying goods and commuting. However as many inhabitants and visitors to Los Angeles can attest, the sprawling city and it

A major upgrade project is to be carried out for Montreal’s Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine Tunnel in Canada. The work is expected to cost US$386 million (C$500 million) and will commence in 2020. New fire protection technology will be installed, along with more modern signage and lighting. Better emergency provision will also be installed, to meet the latest safety requirements. A dedicated lane will be for car-pooling or buses only, in a bid to reduce peak time congestion while the improvements are being carr

Drivers using the M6 motorway in the UK are in the unlucky situation of facing the worst congestion in the country. The latest official data reveals the M6 to suffer more congestion than any other route in the UK, taking over this unfavourable record from the M25 motorway running around London. The M6 is the UK’s longest motorway and runs from Rugby to Gretna in Scotland. The data shows that drivers using the route will face delays to some 210 million journeys when the current three year period of roadwork

Learning record A young driver in Germany managed to be banned from driving a mere 49 minutes after passing his test. Perhaps in jubilation at having passed the test, and no longer having to rely on his friends or ‘dad’s taxi' for transport, the 18 year-old driver inadvisedly pressed pedal to metal. Officers in the town of Hemer, near Dortmund, used a laser unit to determine the vehicle’s speed, seeing that it was travelling at 95km/h in a 50km/h zone. Perhaps he was trying to show his driving skills to hi

Improvement work worth US$116 million will be carried out on Highway 59 in Texas. The 10.6km stretch being upgraded lies between San Jacinto County and Cleveland. The improvements will include provision for emergency hurricane evacuation, effectively allowing this section of road to meet Interstate standards.

New Zealand-based Gaddum Construction is using two TA300 Terex Trucks articulated haulers to move end material and metal for road building as well as shifting logs. The firm has been carrying out a hauling project on the steep slopes and slippery surfaces of Omaio Forest, on the east side of New Zealand’s North Island, around 57km east of Opotiki. The company, which specialises in the construction of infrastructure on challenging terrain, has been using two TA300 articulated haulers from Terex Trucks on th

Engcon has developed a new sorting grab specifically for mini excavators. The new grab, the SK02, is suited to use with mini excavators in the 1.5-3tonne class. The new, smaller grab has been in demand for a long time by Engcon's mini excavator customers who find the larger SK05 too big for their machines. With a weight of only 109kg, a width of 400mm and a maximum grab strength of 5.7kN, the new SK02 is ideal for mini-diggers. Like most of Engcon's hydraulic tools, the top bracket is bolt-on and can

KINSHOFER is now offering its D-Series grapples with a new light, compact and flexible shell, ideal for sorting and demolition. The attachments feature 360° rotation for precise positioning to give construction, demolition and recycling contractors optimal control when grabbing materials. The D-series grapples are available for mini excavators weighing from 2tonnes to heavy-duty excavators weighing up to 80tonnes. The firm says that the D-Series offers jobsite versatility to customers. The units allow ex

Alternative fuel and automated vehicle issues occupied minds at PIARC’s first international road tunnel safety conference. David Arminas reports from Lyon More than ever, tunnel management must done in a wholistic fashion, said Andre Broto, president of PIARC, the World Road Association, based in Paris. With those sentiments, Broto kicked off PIARC’s first International Conference on Tunnel Operations and Safety. One of the first speakers, Sandrine Bernabei Chinzi, head of transport infrastructure at Fr

New systems developed for the road milling machine market will boost safety and efficiency

Formwork specialist Doka recently rose to the challenge on Turkey’s Eyiste Viadust, the country’s highest bridge with piers up to 155m tall. The Eyiste Viaduct will be part of a route between Central Anatolia and Turkey’s Mediterranean region, shortening travel time between the cities of Konya and Alanya. Cantilever forming travellers and Doka’s automatic climbing formwork Xclimb 60 were part of the construction solution. The viaduct is nearly 1.4km long and carried by two abutments and eight piers, stret

The South African branch of the Italian construction company CMC di Ravenna again teamed up with formwork specialist Pilosio to take advantage of Pilosio's solutions. This time it was for construction of a new bridge in the city of Durban, a project named N2/Cornubia Interchange. The overpass will streamline traffic by linking the Umhlanga industrial zone with the Cornubia new development area Tongat. Cornubia is a multibillion rand integrated settlement near Umhlanga, north of Durban, in KwaZulu Natal,

As part of Highways England’s A14 upgrade project from Cambridge to Huntington, Cleveland Bridge installed two 1,050tonne pre-assembled bridge decks in just 11 hours. Months of detailed planning and client liaison ensured the 47.5m-long bridge decks, each containing 330tonnes of steel and 720tonnes of concrete, were successfully travelled to the site and lowered onto the abutments. On-site civil engineering works were undertaken by the A14 Integrated Delivery Team, a joint venture between Costain,

Aggregate Industries is supplying its Lytacrete secondary aggregate solution for the US$6.5 million Nene Bridge structural refurbishment project near Peterborough, England.

A variety of complex factors are involved in the production of hot asphalt mixes, with the process vulnerable to sudden stoppages of the equipment. The problems caused by a need for unplanned maintenance are high, as the cost of a plant stoppage is high. In order to minimise disruptions to production, new technologies can be used for wear components. Electronic monitoring of asphalt plant motors during production can boost efficiency, replacing corrective maintenance with preventive and predictive maintenan

A new plan by the Lithuanian Road Administration (LAKD) has been set out in a bid to revamp the nation’s roads. The plan will run until 2035 and includes rebuilding 400km of the country’s worst roads as a priority and unsurfaced roads will benefit from asphalt surfaces in a plan worth €1 billion. The Via Baltica route running from the Latvian border to the Polish border will be rebuilt in eight stages and is expected to cost €684 million. Improvements will also be carried out connecting capital Vilnius with