Features

A novel approach to utilities installation will lengthen the life of Helsinki's streets, reports Mike Woof. A major utilities project in Finnish capital Helsinki will offer huge benefits for the city's streets and traffic flow rates in years to come. A new tunnel system is being excavated under Helsinki for the power company Helsingin Energia, although this will be co-owned by the city. Called the Common Utility Tunnel (Meilahti-Pasilak-Käpylä LU2), the excavations form an extensive network spreading out un

ECED's first Dealers' Conference in April during Intermat resulted in "a tremendous success and solid future outlook for the association". The president of the European Confederation of Equipment Distributors (ECED), Dr. José Gameiro, said the gravity of the current crisis is "the worst in the past 50 years, with a devastating effect on equipment distribution for public works and civil construction."

A tricky utility supply project has been carried out in difficult conditions in Germany, without disturbing a village access road. The drilling work for the project was operated by boring contractor Beermann and the site was located on a plateau some 5km from the nearest village.

An alliance of companies has come together to realise major infrastructure projects in Latvia including its biggest bridge. Patrick Smith reports. Riga, the Latvian capital, has the finest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe and its centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city of some 750,000 people (the country's total population is 2.2 million) is bounded to the south by Lithuania and to the north by Estonia, and is the second largest in Baltic States. To the east is Russia and Belarus.

Results show the state of Europe's tunnel infrastructure at its 'most sublime and most depressing quality' as Patrick Smith reports. EuroTAP [European Tunnel Assessment Programme] 2010 has unveiled the results of inspections conducted earlier this year in 26 major tunnels in 13 European countries. The on site inspections, carried out between 12 April and 20 May, 2010, are said to indicate that an "alarming number of operational tunnels across Europe will not be ready to comply with EU tunnel safety rules wh

The low risk found for driving through the tunnel is primarily due to the low volume of traffic of around 11,000 vehicles/day and the ban on HGVs and the transport of hazardous goods. Unidirectional traffic, sufficiently wide lanes, emergency lanes and lighting are the main reasons for the very good result for preventive measures. The tunnel is monitored around-the-clock in a tunnel control centre manned by trained staff, and incidents are automatically reported to the control centre by video link. If neces

An innovative solution was put forward to support slip roads on a Dutch motorway. Patrick Smith reports. The 2010 opening of the A7 motorway extension on the southern ring road of the city of Sneek, The Netherlands, brings an end to local traffic misery. By using innovative Tensar Geocell Foundation Mattress technology over weak estuarine clay, MNO-Vervat Noord, the main contractor, constructed a key junction and its slip roads in weeks instead of months, with considerable cost savings.

Construction work on the longest bridge in Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. When completed, the cable-stayed bridge will have a two-lane carriageway and a motorcycle lane in each direction, and will connect Batu Kawan on the mainland to Seberang Perai and Batu Maung on Penang Island. The main span will be 250m long with a length over water of 17km and a 30m height above the water. Costing an estimated US$1.5 billion the 24km long bridge is being b

Praslin, the second-largest of the Seychelles Islands with roughly 6,500 inhabitants, is a tropical paradise of white sandy beaches, dense jungle and crystal clear seas. Tourism is the island's main source of income, and luxury tourism at that. A road had to be diverted for a new five-star hotel and property development project which will create jobs for around 400 people. The road would have obstructed the residents' access to the sea. Sey-Afrique Exporters from Pinetown, South Africa, won the contra

Part of an extensive motorway network measuring some 185km, the ongoing Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GIFP) is creating a modern, world-class toll route system that provides major impetus to socio-economic growth in South Africa's most populous and commercially active region.

The new Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (ORR) project is a 158km eight-lane highway encircling the Andhra Pradesh city. It has been designed to relieve congestion in and around the city and to act as a hub for accessing India's national highway network, and is being built for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. Indian contractor Ramky Infrastructure is relying on an Atlas Copco MB 1700 hydraulic breaker to break granite as aggregates at a quarry site adjacent to the new road. The rock is bein

Shem Oirere reports on plans for a major highway to Rwanda to other parts of Africa Construction of a 78km highway stretch that links Rwanda to the rest of Eastern Africa will start in May. State Minister in Charge of Transport Dr Alex. Nzahabwanimana said the contract for the US$54 million project has already been awarded to German construction company Strabag International.

Winter weather often brings traffic chaos, and authorities have to be ready to tackle it as Patrick Smith reports. Good winter maintenance is rarely noticed, and it is only when things go wrong that it becomes a public issue. "When sudden bouts of cold weather bring traffic chaos, icy roads receive high-profile coverage and local authorities are criticised, often unfairly, for not affording greater protection," says the Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA), the UK's top trade body for road mainten

The South Interoceanic Road is a path of integration and development: it is also a GRAA 2011 Winning Project . On 24 January, 2012 the International Road Federation formally presented a Global Road Achievement Award (GRAA) in. the Programme Management category to Concesionaria Interoceánica Sur Tramos 2 y 3, S.A. for its leadership in the provision of integrated services as part of a large-scale transportation infrastructure programme. IIRSA Sur Concessionaire - Stretches 2 & 3, builds, provides maintenanc