Features

Asphalt paving in island paradise
April 10, 2012
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
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Hydraulic breakers key to Hyderabad road project
April 10, 2012
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
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Auckland Harbour bridge celebrates 50 years
April 5, 2012
The bridge over Auckland Harbour celebrates its half century this year, and it has been given a major upgrade to ensure that safety is maintained in New Zealand's largest city. Mary Searle reports. Auckland is New Zealand's largest city, home to nearly a third of the entire country's population. It's a sprawling metropolis, and its 1.3 million people are spread over 637km² of city, suburbs and islands. The Auckland Harbour Bridge, which celebrates its 50th birthday in May, is a vital link in the city's road
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Korean bridge construction poses challenges
April 5, 2012
On South Korea's southern coast, an innovative highway sea crossing is providing many engineering challenges The new Busan-Geoje crosses from South Korea's second city to its biggest island and is slightly shorter than the 12km of the country's famous Incheon project. In addition the main cable stay bridge for the Busan-Geoje project has a 475m span rather than the 800m of the Incheon central span. However the 8.2km Busan-Geoje project faces perhaps greater technical challenges and also includes a second b
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Asphalt milling key to runway upgrade project
April 5, 2012
Work is continuing to upgrade Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), India's largest airport in Mumbai, the country's largest city. The airport is equipped with a cross runway system (primary runway) and (secondary runway), with both intersecting each other at a common point. As part of the overall master plan for the modernisation of CSIA, Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) is completely reconstructing both the runways to create an efficient airside infrastructure, which is the core of an
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Boom in Asian infrastructure investment
April 5, 2012
Investment in China and India continues unabated, but other nations on the continent are eager to attract companies as Patrick Smith reports Asia is still booming despite the current economic crisis, and new infrastructure programmes are constantly coming on stream. Powerhouses China and India, with their double-digit growth figures and huge infrastructure plans (in scope and cost), are leading the way and are still magnets for businesses wishing to expand, both in terms of facilities and customers. But oth
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India's first construction event a huge success
April 5, 2012
The first bC India event has exceeded all expectations and it is set to become a regular event. Patrick Smith reports A major new construction equipment show has been launched in a nation with a huge appetite for such machinery and a growth rate nudging 9% each year. With billions being spent on infrastructure (roads and highways, power stations, railways, ports and airports), India was a prime candidate for a trade fair to display the latest and local international construction machinery, building materia
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India plans major infrastucture investment
April 5, 2012
India says it turned its Commonwealth Games into a world-class success, and now it aims to do the same with its infrastructure. Patrick Smith reports On October, 2010 India put itself on the world stage, and disaster appeared to loom as a catalogue of problems dogged its biggest ever sporting event. Costing nearly US$2 billion to stage, the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever were, according to some, in doubt. After years of planning some projects were incomplete, there were health scares and a br
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Silk Road: 'viable alternative'
April 4, 2012
The final results of the International Road Transport Union's (IRU) New Eurasian Land Transport Initiative (NELTI)-Phase 2 have confirmed road trade links between Europe and Asia as an economically-attractive and viable alternative to traditional, saturated maritime trading routes. This was unveiled at the recent 6th IRU Euro-Asian Road Transport Conference and Ministerial Meeting held in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, which concluded that removing the remaining procedural impediments at borders and deve
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Holding back
April 4, 2012
AN INNOVATIVE slurry wall solution has been used by Bachy Soletanche at the Alderley Edge By-Pass project in the UK. Bachy Soletanche provided assistance for the A34 Alderley Edge by-pass project in the UK being carried out by main contractor Birse Civils. This solution was required to tackle challenges posed by the water table at the Welsh Row section. Bachy Soletanche used its experience with slurry cut-off walls, a technique rarely used in Britain on road construction, to benefit a tricky section of the
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Highway developments to boost east-west transport
April 4, 2012
Huge highway developments are being planned and carried out to further improve East-West transport, with Central Asia a key region as Patrick Smith reports History was made in late 2010, when one of the biggest road building projects ever envisaged in Eastern Europe was given the green-light. It was the occasion when Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed a law that would allow his country to build its segment of a huge highway around the Black Sea. The idea is to complete the 7,140km highway, wi
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PIARC congress showcases innovation
April 4, 2012
Since 1908, the World Road Congress has been the premier international event for roads and road transport. The XXIVth edition held in the Mexican capital Mexico City (26-30 September, 2011), is organised by the World Road Association (PIARC/AIPCR) together with SCT; AMIVTAC (Asociación Mexicana de Ingeniería de Vías Terrestres) and Vivir Mejor, will present current research and best practice, provide a venue for discussion of advances in technology and practice and bring together road transport stakehold
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Beijing's record-breaking BICES 2011
April 4, 2012
BICES 2011 equipment exhibition attracted unprecedented levels of visitors, according to the organisers. With China's construction market booming and the world's largest infrastructure investment programme in full swing, the country is seeing a huge growth in demand for new machines. Manufacturers from inside the country as well as international firms are keen to boost sales in the country and develop market shares. As a result, promotion is a key issue and all manufacturers, Chinese and international, are
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Removing runway rubber
April 4, 2012
When Dubai Airport contacted Waterblasting Technologies it faced a number of challenges. One was finding a waterblasting system that would operate successfully in the 42º-52ºC daylight heat of the summer and also to find the fastest and most productive waterblasting system because of very limited runway closure time. Chemicals, shotblasting and other waterblasting equipment had been tried on the runways, but eventually engineers and management chose the Stripe Hog SH8000T manufactured by Waterblasting Tech
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Removing runway rubber
April 4, 2012
When Dubai Airport contacted Waterblasting Technologies it faced a number of challenges. One was finding a waterblasting system that would operate successfully in the 42º-52ºC daylight heat of the summer and also to find the fastest and most productive waterblasting system because of very limited runway closure time. Chemicals, shotblasting and other waterblasting equipment had been tried on the runways, but eventually engineers and management chose the Stripe Hog SH8000T manufactured by Waterblasting Tech
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