Features

Wheeled loaders are operating in the world’s largest sand cleaning plant. Located 50km from the capital Doha, Qatari Primary Materials (QPMC) operates one of the world’s largest sand cleaning plants. With temperatures reaching 40°C and 64,000tonnes of aggregates needed to be handled for every export shipment, Volvo Construction Equipment’s wheeled loaders are helping with operations in the gas-rich state. Volvo CE is involved in one of the country’s largest industrial operations, having provided QPMC with a

The Russian government is considering revising standards and technologies of roadbuilding in the country, writes Eugene Gerden. The aim is to accelerate implementation of one of the major public projects in the transport industry of Russia in the coming years: expansion of the road network from the current 900,000km to 1.3 million km by 2030 as part of the current Russian State Transport Strategy. According to a recent study, conducted by analysts of the Presidential Head Control Directorate, maintaining th

*Zeina Nazer, secretary general of ITS-Arab, introduces the rapid evolution of Intelligent Transport Systems in the Middle East and North Africa and talks about the special challenges and opportunities this represents, both for the industry and her organisation. Over the past six years, ITS-Arab has focused on promoting Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) at the policy and decision making echelons, while developing ITS specifications at a project design level throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MEN

Turkey is benefiting from new motorway and bridge projects constructed along the BOT model - Gülay Malkoç. Looking at Turkey’s economic development, road construction plays a crucial role. The investment in Turkey is becoming increasingly attractive for both local and foreign investors. There are significant huge road investments and projects being made in Turkey at present, compared with EU countries where the roads need mostly repair and maintenance. According to the approach of Turkey’s Ministry of Trans

The use of sophisticated machine control technology has helped halve the schedule required for a road contract – Jeff Winke. By using the latest machine control systems on the equipment fleet, a US contractor has managed to halve worker hours, machine time and overall costs. “We chopped 50% off the contract schedule,” said Jim Swenson, licensed professional land surveyor for Oregon Mainline Paving based in McMinnville, Oregon. “The project was completed a year ahead of the two-year schedule,” he explained.

From density tests on a Mongolian gold mine project to an all-singing, all-dancing asphalt tester, Kristina Smith reports on some of the latest new products in materials testing. Perhaps understandably, nuclear density gauges can present contractors with some order to move them at all. “One of the problems with nuclear soil gauges is the restrictions on movement,” said John Lamond, Manufacturing. “If you are a contractor projects cross-border, it’s a real challenge to move a nuclear density gauge around.”

A leading WIM system manufacturer is playing a key role in efforts to reduce the number of overloaded trucks costing developing economies around the world billions of dollars in accidents and damage to roads, while another company has won a major contract in South America. Guy Woodford reports. The prevalence of overloaded trucks on the road networks of developing countries and the accidents and structural damage they cause wastes valuable, limited resources in some of the world’s poorest economies, diverti

In the Intelligent Transportation Systems world, the concept of managing roadway or transportation corridors is not new. Smart Corridor concepts have existed for some time, such as the Santa Monica Smart Corridor system from the 1990s. Across the world, a new emerging model for operating roadway transportation networks called integrated corridor management (ICM) has emerged. This is particularly true in California, where several new ICM projects have or are being deployed. There is a new paradigm for corrid

A wealth of major road tunnel construction projects and significant cant ITS installations within existing key road tunnels have been recently completed or will soon be underway. Guy Woodford examines some of them. A state-of-the art Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) - the 10th largest ever to be built worldwide will be put to work later this year on New Zealand Transport Agency’s landmark Waterview Connection project in Auckland. The giant Herrenknecht-manufactured machine will be used to construct the twin 2.5

The latest formwork solutions are enabling some tough bridge-building projects to be delivered in South America and Europe, while the world’s largest construction equipment show is seeing the merits of other cutting-edge formwork. Guy Woodford reports. Taking a road and rail link across one of South America’s largest rivers, together with its swamps and floodplain, calls for a new crossing of superlative dimensions. Two 135.5m pylons for the third bridge across the Orinoco River in Venezuela are taking shap

Maximising the economic benefit of infrastructure assets can be achieved through delivering better quality maintenance. Increasing utilisation of infrastructure follows on from those assets being in better condition. Clearly by tracking infrastructure condition closely, huge gains can be made in addressing technical issues before they become more serious and more costly, as well as minimising disruption. In UK city Birmingham, high resolution aerial photography from Bluesky is helping the city council under

Highway technology and services company Yotta DCL has announced new features for Horizons. The web-based platform integrates GIS, pavement and asset management for highways authorities and agencies to use in a visualised asset management system. The new version 2.3 adds features and functionality across three modules: Explorer, Analysis and Management. Explorer allows users to view, load and visualise a range of datasets, including base network data, their condition in fine detail, plus relevant asset or co

German traffic analysis consultant and software maker PTV, which produces the well-known Visum and Vissim strategic traffic analysis and micro-simulation tools, has launched a new assessment tool aimed at studying traffic impact of new developments. PTV Vistro is claimed to be the first all-in­ one-solution for transport analysis and signal optimisation, an easy-to-use software that can be used to conduct traffic studies which are often a mandatory part of development applications and planning approvals.