Features

A personal invitation from director general Waskito Pandu of the Ministry of Public Works, Indonesia Indonesia’s Master Plan for Economic Development to 2025, which aims to propel the country into the 10 major economies in the world by 2025, calls for a national connectivity vision captured by a simple slogan ‘Locally Integrated. Globally Connected’.

According to a recently published report, based on the findings of the Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA), the condition of road markings on the UK’s roads is so poor they require immediate remedial action. This comprehensive survey covered 7,000km of the roads in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It revealed that 47% of markings on all roads (and as much as 52% on motorways) in England are in need of immediate replacement or should be scheduled for replacement in order to ensure they meet

Innovative roadmarking technologies will increase productivity, improve conspicuity in poor conditions and offer increased wear life - Mike Woof writes. Major advances have been seen in roadmarking systems now being offered on the market. More sophisticated machinery will increase productivity and quality when installing markings, while new systems will also last longer in use. In addition, smart technologies can detect wear and provide highway authorities with an accurate picture of network safety, at comp

The IRF has helped educate the next generation of leaders since 1949 Sixty-five years after its founding, the IRF Fellowship Program for graduate students of engineering and transportation policy remains a cornerstone of the IRF’s work. Since 1949, IRF members and donors have helped fund the education of more than 1,346 transportation professionals from 118 countries. The Fellowship Program identifies international students with outstanding potential and helps nurture them as they take their place as the ne

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) was in Athens, Greece on May 8-9 2014 to take part in in the Informal EU Transport Ministers Council meeting and the European Commission organised 6th European Road Safety Day event. The European Road Safety Day event held at the Zappeio Megaro on 9 May 2014 under the heading ‘Safe and Smart Infrastructure’ was organised in cooperation with the Greek Presidency to coincide with the informal Council of Transport Ministers, also held at Zappeio Megaro the day before.

When it comes to runways, there are few busier then Brisbane’s main runway. Servicing both domestic and international travel, with over 200,000 movements per year, operating without a curfew Brisbane’s main runway is the busiest in Australia. For maintenance, crews only have a limited period of time to determine the pavement condition, normally during the night, making the detection of pavement faults difficult. To resolve this issue, a new high speed pavement scanner was used to rapidly survey the pavem

Kevin Vine reports on the use of non-destructive testing for structural analysis of bridges Seven years ago, the overpass collapse in Laval, Québec that led to the death of five people brought to light severe issues with the state of the country’s bridges and transportation infrastructure. More recently, a crack in the Champlain Bridge to Montreal that forced over 160,000 commuters to find alternate routes to work reaffirmed a need for greater emphasis on early detection before a crisis occurs.

A limited amount of aggregate and resources, including fuel, in the Riau province of Indonesia can challenge roadbuilders, but Indonesian contractor PT Harap Panjang overcame the obstacles on a recent project. The province rests in a tropical rainforest. The 2600mm of annual rainfall take a toll on the area’s roads, particularly those developed by oil company Chevron Pacific Indonesia. The remote roads were built to service Chevron operations, crucial to the economies of the city, region and country. The r

A vital and novel highway drainage project in Mexico could provide the key to reducing the nation’s water scarcity, as Guy Woodford reports. A rare highway drainage project in downtown Monterrey, Mexico has created a sustainable blueprint for rainwater re-use that could help to tackle the country’s water scarcity problems.

The trial of a novel compound at a site in Chile has shown how structural improvements can be achieved for dirt road applications Although the Barrick Gold Pascua Lama operation is a surface mining site, the experience with this technology is equally applicable for use on haul roads in large quarries or for dirt roads expected to carry heavy loads. This is of particular importance for transport in remote areas where large loads such as pre-cast bridge sections or girders for example may have to be carrie

A new tunnel is forming an important link for a major Colombian highway - Mauro Nogarin reports Work on a major highway project is underway in Colombia, forming part of the Bogota-Buenaventura Corridor. The highway has a length of 503km and is located in central Colombia, connecting the departments of Tolima and Quindio, across the central Andes, with a total cost of around US$330 million. A key section of the project consists of building a unidirectional tunnel of approximately 8.65km in length. Anot

This month we report on two very different deals which see materials testing equipment companies in Italy and Australia joining forces and the result should be more competition, better machines and better prices for customers - Kristina Smith writes Italy’s CONTROLS Group has acquired Autralia’s IPC Global in a deal signed on 31 March this year.The first of two deals which see Italy and Australia joining forces came in March this year. CONTROLS Group acquired Australian material testing equipment manufactur

New major highway tolling solution supply contracts and the launch of cutting-edge tolling products have invigorated the global tolling technology market in the first half of 2014, as Guy Woodford reports Kapsch TrafficCom has been selected by North Tarrant Express (NTE) Mobility Partners LLC to provide the toll collection, intelligent transport and network communication systems for the NTE extension project in the US state of Texas. The NTE extension is approximately 16km long, and runs along I-35W north o

A series of innovations in machine control or automation technologies are helping transform the construction industry - Mike Woof writes Equipment manufacturer have made huge advances in machine performance, delivering new models that offer increased capabilities and productivity, while using less fuel. Reliability and uptime too have been improved, with the development of equipment that can forestall unplanned downtime by telling the user when it will require service attention. Meanwhile new engines delive