Features

Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City's dense population, which was estimated to be 10,680 persons/km2 in 2005, is, over the next ten years, set to benefit from the completion of the Thu Thiem Urban Area project, which will provide homes for up to 200,000 people.

AT THE TIME of year it is worth considering how strong the construction market will be towards the end of 2010 and on into 2011. The build-up to the Bauma construction equipment exhibition in Munich, the world's largest exhibition, has helped fuel new product introductions from manufacturers, attracted contractors to visit the event and brought healthy interest to the construction sector as a whole.

There is a lot of work to do on Bulgarian roads, but the government has plans to increase the length of highways built each year as Krasimir Krastanov reports. Bulgarian roads with a pavement make up 98.4% of all the country's roads, while 92.5% of them have an asphalt surface and 82.8% of them are able to carry 10tonnes/axle.

While tunnels are often more expensive than bridges, they can offer environmentally attractive options for transport schemes. Tunnels offer environmentally attractive options for a range of transport infrastructure schemes, but in many cases high construction costs may restrict their use.

Novel safety barrier solutions are coming to market, writes Mike Woof The safety barrier market is a focus for innovative products designed to meet a range of different applications. The diverse range of vehicle types on the road poses numerous technical challenges to barrier manufacturers. At the same time, different applications such as motorcycle safety, end treatments, bridge barriers and roadside obstacle protection require novel solutions. Although motorcycles account for only a small proportion of ve

Light and illumination equipment supplier Thorn Lighting, part of the Zumtobel Group, is to add a basic version of Lighting Reality's design and calculation simulation software to its products, initially for those sold in France and potentially across Europe.

Savoy Computing in the UK has been quick to launch a new version of its AutoTrack swept-path analysis software to take advantage of the latest AutoCAD 2012 platform.

British scanning company 3D Laser Mapping is hoping to benefit from a £3 million ($5 million) fund announced recently by the UK government for police forces to purchase laser scanning technology for accident recording and investigation.

Recycling is a key issue for asphalt road construction, with many technologies now coming to market. Bith an ever increasing emphasis on sustainability forcing change in the construction sector in Europe and North America, the highway sector now has to seek new solutions.

New advanced software is being released for use by those involved in highway design as Adrian Greeman reports. The growing importance of BIM, building or project information modelling, as a design and construction process, and not just 3D modelling, is the driving force for the latest 2012 versions of Autodesk's comprehensive range of software for civil engineers. This is reflected in a new packaging of its various software tools into suites (along the lines of Microsoft's office suites) tailored to variou

GPS technology offers contractors many benefits and product offerings are growing more diverse, Mike Woof reports. The benefit of GPS technology for the construction industry cannot be overstated.

New US-style pavers are coming to market, writes Mike Woof. Paving Techniques for the North American market focus on productivity, with manufacturers offering new machines specially for this sector. The US paving market is very different from Europe, with manufacturers having focussed on productivity so as to be able to surface the country’s long distance highway construction projects.

The building of Italy's highway system just over four decades ago led to the formation of a testing equipment company. It is now among the world leaders. Just over 40 years ago a big surge in construction of the Italian highway system presented an opportunity to a team of local entrepreneurs.

Materials used to construct roads must meet defined standards to offer a variety of solutions including durability, smoothness and long life. The need for the regular testing of materials used in highway construction is now a must on all projects. It is essential to make sure that the materials used in producing roads meet defined standards and offer durability, smoothness and long life.

Solutions for a reduction in emissions, recycling and more efficiency are being introduced by major asphalt plant manufacturers as Patrick Smith reports. The demand to reduce all types of emissions and increase the use of recycled material has put pressure on industry to come up with answers, and asphalt production is no exception.