Features

Earthmoving equipment manufacturer Dressta is launching the first of three new hydraulic crawler dozers later this year, and has ambitious growth plans funded by parent company LiuGong, the Chinese construction equipment manufacturing giant. Guy Woodford reports Dressta’s trio of new hydraulic crawler dozers represent exciting additions to the dozer market and are the first results of parent company LiuGong’s significant R&D investment in the Polish firm, which it bought in 2012. Being launched in Q

Crying out for consistency Getting hold of the right product, or any product at all, is often the challenge, as delegates to the Argus Africa Bitumen conference heard Many parts of Africa have ambitious road building plans for the next few decades. But clients and contractors are facing problems with the quality and supply of bitumen, delegates at the Argus Africa Bitumen conference were told. If there was one overriding message to come out of the conference, held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in Feb

New technology was one key focus area for the World of Asphalt/AGG1 event run recently in the US city of Baltimore - Mike Woof writes Technology has been a major focus for the combined World of Asphalt and AGG1 2015 exhibition and conference held in Baltimore. The exhibition area attracted 450 exhibitors and covered a larger area than for previous events, while over 10,000 education season tickets were bought by those wanting to attend the presentation sessions. The event was held from March 17th- March

Kenya is introducing novel methods for funding its necessary road infrastructure development - Shem Oirere writes. Kenya has unveiled a new financing model for road construction and reviewed its design standards and construction methodologies, which forms part of a new strategy for the East African country. Under this new plan Kenya is planning to upgrade 10,000km of road, with these links featuring asphalt surfacing; the work being carried out over the next five years at a cost of US$2.8 billion. Despite t

Mexico will benefit from an important new underwater tunnel - Mauro Nogarin writes. The city of Coatzacoalcos is located at the mouth of the river of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico, 302km from the city of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, in the east end of trans-isthmian corridor and at the southern end of Veracruz State. The city is seeing a key development as currently construction is 85% completed on the first immersed tube, underwater tunnel in Latin America. The reasons why experts chose this type of tunne

Crushing equipment from Sandvik is proving productive in a difficult application involving hard volcanic rock in South Africa. The QH331 tracked mobile cone crusher has been supplied by Sandvik Mobile Crushers and Screens distributor, Pilot Crushtec, which recommended the machine for this difficult duty. The machine is working as part of a crushing train producing base material for a road construction project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. Pilot Crushtec, founded in 1990, is helping a customer invest in th

The largest marble quarry in Russia is now benefiting from the first CI512 Prisec HSI crusher in the country. The machine is working at the Koelga Quarry, the largest Russian marble quarry, and one of the world’s largest. Supplied by Sandvik’s Russian distributor, Quarry Service, the CI512 Prisec operates 24 hours/day and the machine has improved the cubicity of the end product and boosted productivity by up to 50%, while decreasing noise emissions. Koelga Marble is Russia’s market leader in the prod

Russian construction company BaltMostStroy has been using a Sennebogen 7700 crawler crane to build bridges along a new freeway route The 300tonne capacity crawler crane has been used to lift prefabricated parts weighing as much as 100tonnes onto the concrete foundations. LLC Lonmadi in St Petersburg is Sennebogen’s Russian sales and service partner and supplied the contractor with the 7700 crawler crane. This versatile crawler crane is being used on demanding infrastructure construction work in Russia. A

Huge investments being made in building several outbound routes in Moscow and the Moscow region – Eugene Gerden writes. Up to US$20 billion (900 billion Roubles) will be invested in the building of several outbound routes in Moscow and the Moscow region during the next few years, according to an official spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Transport. It is planned that the routes will be built as flyovers above the railroad tracks in the Yaroslavl, Kazan, Riga and Paveletskaya directions of the

Crane manufacturer Manitowoc has supplied six Potain cranes to German contractor Max Bögl. These machines are being used for constructing a new bridge carrying the A3 autobahn, close to Limburg. Working at over 70m high, the cranes tower over the Lahn Valley. The cranes for this project were supplied by Max Bögl’s subsidiary, Max Bögl Transport & Geräte. The three topless Potain MDT 222 cranes were selected for the work as they feature tip heights of up to 76.2m and can operate with a working radius of

Transport investment faces a shortfall that can perhaps never be breached – David Arminas writes There “will never be sufficient funds for all planned road activities,” said Ben Gericke, transport specialist at The World Bank. The road maintenance industry is going to have to use the best possible contract strategy to win the investment it needs. Speaking at the PPRS Paris 2015 Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit, Gericke said that the best way for the global highway construction and road maint

The PPRS event in Paris highlighted the need for additional investment in road transportation – David Arminas writes. Consider the global road network. An improved road from one rural African town to another can reduce the journey time from a one-day walk to a one-hour drive. This could save lives through access to a hospital; allow small businesses to work faster by getting in supplies more quickly; allow children to attend a better equipped school. Roads affect society by allowing healthier and bett

A new report from the Lighting Research Center* at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute focuses on the benefits from switching to LED lighting technologies There is a rapidly changing landscape for roadway lighting worldwide, largely due to the widespread acceptance of light-emitting diode (LED) technology. In developed markets such as the US, this has opened up a universe of new possibilities regarding LED replacement lamps. There are 144 million high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps in the US, representing