Features

Leading asphalt plant manufacturers have recently unveiled their latest products aimed at customers looking for significant efficiency gains through the use of durable and lasting technology. Guy Woodford looks at some of the new batch Benninghoven showcased a wide variety of its new and innovative asphalt plants and individual plant components during its week-long Open Days event last month at the German firm’s HQ in Mülheim. Launched earlier this year, the MMX80 Continuous Asphalt Plant is capable of prod

The Honorary and the Outreach Committees of the 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition held their first meetings in Paris, France to review the management plan and concept program of what promises to be the most important global event for the road industry in 2013. The Honorary Committee, chaired by current IRF chairman and mayor of Riyadh H.E. Eng. Abdullah Al-Mogbel, and representation of each major region of the world, met in Paris on September 7 at the headquarters of the well-known French firm Colas. Asse

IRF’s itinerant cycle of training seminars aimed at helping countries eliminate needless deaths and meet their commitments to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety made a notable stop in San Jose, Costa Rica on September 12-14. Safer Roads by Design - Costa Rica was hosted by the National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models of the University of Costa Rica (Lanamme UCR), the country’s leading knowledge centre on road engineering, with additional support from the Inter-American Development Bank an

Warm mix asphalt can save energy and the environment, cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases, but are environmental arguments enough for clients and contractors? Kristina Smith asks Though popular in the United States, warm mix asphalt is still a technology waiting to happen in the rest of the world. Chemical companies who imagined a meteoric rise in sales are still waiting for the right economic conditions to allow warm mix to start taking serious market share from hot mix. “In Europe

Bolstered by building machines for Caterpillar and high demand for its VDS equipped excavators, Wacker Neuson has greatly increased its compact equipment building capability in Linz - Nick Johnson reports At a time when some other construction equipment makers have still scaled back their operations following the global economic crisis, Wacker Neuson has been busy building new facilities and increasing its production capacity. Last month the company officially opened its new compact equipment production fac

Major new tunnel construction projects will, on completion, help secure more reliable journey times for hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Meanwhile, as Guy Woodford reports, leading ITS solution companies have been providing vital equipment for major road tunnels The Martina Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), a 4,500tonne Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance Shield said to have a world record diameter of 15.55m, has required just under a year to build the first of two tunnel tubes for the 2.5km lon

One leading Weigh in Motion technology manufacturer is helping governments in developing countries reduce excessive road damage, while several others have seen their latest WIM systems recently used on the highways of Eastern Europe. Guy Woodford reports Recent Central Weighing WIM installations in Bangladesh are helping its national government reduce the financial burden of excessive road damage, while also protecting many bridges that are vital to transport and trade. The need for such installations was e

Max Lay discusses how congestion has posed problems throughout history from early civilisation to the present day One of the earliest known human settlements was at the Springs of Elisha at Jericho. Inevitably, locals collecting fresh water from the springs would encounter other water carriers. When a path was too narrow, or access to it was too limited, or it crossed another path, some carriers would find it necessary to stand aside for others. Priority in such cases might be based on common courtesy and p

The Russian road building industry is on the verge of big changes as it bids to improve quality and speed of construction says Eugene Gerden The Russian road building industry is on the verge of big changes as the national government considers creating conditions to attract foreign companies to build roads in the country. According to a recent order of President Vladimir Putin, due to poor quality and high cost of road construction, there is a need for the development of a mechanism to attract foreign compa

Innovative technology is use is providing efficient, clean burning engines - Mike Woof reports The development of new diesel engine technology has, for the off-highway equipment sector, been the single most expensive research field for the industry since these machines first started being manufactured. Aimed at reducing the emissions of nitrous oxide as well as particulate matter, in a phased series of stages the engine emission improvements will make major changes to the construction sector. In real world

Best known as an equipment maker, JCB has been steadily building its profile in the engine market – Mike Woof reports JCB has now produced over 200,000 engines, despite having entered this market as recently as 2004, while the company is also launching an all-new diesel. The company has built over 17,000 engines at its JCB Power Systems plant, and in excess of 30,000 atits factory in India where production started as recently as April 2011. Alan Tolley, director engine programmes said that, “…2004 was a tur

Established players face increasing competition in the market for bulldozers and graders - Mike Woof reports The world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, Caterpillar is a company with a strong position worldwide and this has all grown from its track type tractor range. Caterpillar has long dominated the bulldozer market, as well as being involved in the grader segment since the inter-war period. The firm’s history ties it directly to the development of the crawler track with Ben Holt’s track

New technologies allow efficient use of recycled asphalt - Mike Woof writes The Eurobitume/Euroasphalt 2012 event in Istanbul earlier this year proved an important event with regard to asphalt recycling innovations. Key developments in this technology were announced, particularly in the field of asphalt production. One of the notable papers came from E-MAK, part of the Turkish Simge Group, which focused on its RATEK system. This technology is designed to use recycled asphalt and can produce greater throughp

South Africa takes crumb rubber use to the next level - *Anders Marschall Jensen The preservation of the environment is a global concept, and in the road construction industry, it is all about preservation of roads. In earlier days, roads were built with the primary goal of moving passenger traffic from one place to another, but these days, roads are very different. Not only is there passenger traffic, and more of it, but roads must also deal with extensive movement of products in heavy vehicles. Therefore,

Novel crushing and screening developments are coming to market - Mike Woof reports A wide array of innovations and market developments are occurring in the sector for quarrying machinery. New technologies are being introduced while business developments are also changing the face of this market segment. There is strong interest in new technology from industry too and this was well highlighted by data from the organisers of the Hillhead quarry show in the UK. The organisers revealed that there was a jump of