Features

Mexico’s highway infrastructure plays a key role in the country’s economy, carrying around 55% of its freight and 98% of its passenger traffic. To meet this demand, the network has 377,660km of roads in all. This is split between the 49,652km federal highway network, the 83,982km of state roads, 169.429km of rural roads and 74,596km of access roads. mHowever, although the federal road network manages to connect a large part of the country's strategic points, some stretches already present problems with satu

The outlook is generally stable for business conditions and credit quality for toll roads worldwide, according to the latest survey from ratings agency S&P Global.The exception is the US where the overall outlook is “positive”, noted the report S&P Global Ratings' 2017. The 21-page report considers broad economic and industry-specific trends. It looks at economic conditions, demographic trends and geopolitical risks that affect the movement of people and goods. “We expect stable or improving, but still frag

Excavators, wheeled loaders and ADTs have all seen improvements for this year. New developments in earthmoving machines continue to help improve working efficiency for contractors. The excavator market is the largest single segment of the construction machine sector, with competition being tough between the major players, and a steady stream of new models coming to market. Doosan has launched the new Stage IV compliant DX225LC-5 crawler excavator, which is said to offer high performance, fuel efficiency, r

The demand for road construction material research and testing services in Kenya is expected to soar. The East African country is going through a construction boom, despite policy and financial challenges facing public institutions overseeing the research and testing operations in the transport industry. “Kenya is going through a construction boom and so is the demand for construction material testing services,” said Juma Ali Madzitsa, Geotechnical Lab Supervisor at SGS Kenya, a subsidiary of Swiss based in

Safety remains paramount but crosswalks can also be colourful and fun. The increasing popularity of colourful crosswalks is exercising the creativity of municipalities around Europe. An example is the use of DecoMark preformed thermoplastic markings in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The art collective Opperclaes, working with urbanism agency Street Makers, designed an artwork-style crosswalk on the Westblaak area of Rotterdam. The Westblaak is a busy street in the city centre and connects Churchill Square with the

Aidan Conway, founder of Thermal Road Repairs, the UK manufacture of paver-mounted pavement heaters, explains how the latest version operates. The equipment, which allows asphalt to be laid seamlessly, eliminates joints from the outset. The latest version of the paver-mounted pavement heater from Thermal Road Repairs includes start-stop technology. This allows the computerised equipment to operate independently while synchronising with the paver. In TRR’s original system this was a manual process, explains

With an estimated value of €8 trillion, the road infrastructure is probably the European Union’s largest single asset. It accounts for 83% of passenger journeys and more than 70% of freight movement. Despite this importance, global investment in roads - especially maintenance - has fallen, said Christophe Nicodeme, European Road Federation secretary general. There are grave consequences, noted Nicodeme in his opening keynote address to the recent Study and Information Days gathering, an annual event for mem

Huesker, an earthworks and foundation designer for roads and pavements, has posted a short video explaining “interaction flexibility”, a new term for geogrid-reinforced structures. Interaction flexibility is an important technical term, as important as tensile strength and tensile stiffness, to secure the quality of a geogrid reinforced construction, explains the engineering team at Huesker which has its head office in Gescher, Germany.

Maintenance, Modernisation, Adaptation of Roads and Streets for Tomorrow’s Mobility – these are the key themes for the upcoming Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit (PPRS) in Nice, France, March 26-28 next year. Meeting the mobility challenges is more essential than ever in a rapidly changing global context. Speakers at the event, to take place at the Nice Acropolis, will include Peter Schmitz (Germany), Shigeru Kikukawa (Japan) and David Winter (US).

Uruguay’s road development programme will help deliver economic growth for the future - Gordon Feller reports. Uruguay is embarking on a new nationwide programme to rehabilitate 890km of roads, and the government intends to improve an additional 260km of dangerous highways and roads. This three-year programme aims to reduce traffic accidents, in part thanks to a US$70 million loan recently authorised by the World Bank’s board of directors. The new operation uses a special financing instrument known as “Prog

EvoQuip, the newest division of Terex Corporation, is launching a Cobra 230 impact crusher later this year, to sit alongside the Cobra 260. The 24tonne machine will offer a production capacity of 140-150tonnes/hour in asphalt and construction recycling. The Cobra 230 is 11.3m long and 2.46m wide, or 5.15m wide with a side conveyor. It features a quick set-up time and the machine can be moved onsite without having to stop the crusher. Keestrack says that its novel H4 tracked cone crusher is light and compact

The US state of Michigan sets up a high-tech test road while New Zealand’s transport officials buy in some high-tech weather forecasting. The road safety division of 3M will provide the US state of Michigan with lane markings and retroreflective signs for a connected vehicle technologies trial along the I-75 highway. Around 5km of the Interstate 75 work zone in Oakland County will be transformed over the next four months to improve safety for drivers and test advanced vehicle-to-infrastructure technologie

The International Road Federation has given its prestigious annual road safety accolade — known as the ‘Find A Way Award’ — to the Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The Find a Way Award was instituted as part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety by IRF chairman Eng Abdullah Al-Mogbel in recognition of the value of political leadership in driving road traffic injury reduction strategies. Every year, the Award distinguishes outstanding personal commitment to safer roads b

Ari Gate and the entrance to Ayazağa Campus are now pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly as part of Istanbul Technical University’s ongoing Green Campus project. The university is more than 250 years old and has five campuses spread throughout the centre of historic Istanbul, Turkeys former capital and now a financial and transport hub. The network of campuses and myriad buildings make it extremely difficult for staff and students to get around quickly and efficiently so they must resort to a vehicle, either ca

Sustainability and the highways sector’s image issue were two major themes at the 10th symposium of the European Asphalt Paving Association in Paris. Margo Cole reports. Sustainability was explicit or implicit in many presentations during EAPA’s biennial symposium for the paving supply chain. The industry feels that sustainability is its home territory, thanks to an already good – and getting even better - record of recycling of materials. But do buyers and users of roads realise that the design and contrac