Features

Safety restraints have come a long way in the past 20 years. But perfection has its drawbacks, notes Thomas Edl, head of barrier manufacturer Delta Bloc. In Europe, establishing regulations for construction and testing of road restraints has been complex. But the journey has been worthwhile in terms of lives saved, says Thomas Edl, managing director of Delta Bloc International, based in Vienna. The European Commission looked at this and decided that there should be regulations to make it an even playing fie

Milling efficiently with a versatile, mid-sized machine has offered benefits on a German road job. A German contractor has found that using a mid-sized milling machine from Wirtgen has offered a good combination of both versatility and productivity for a road rebuild job. Kassel-based milling specialist VORO has used a Wirtgen W 100 CFi to upgrade the surface of a section of the busy B3 route. The B3 is an important route and runs 755km from Buxtehude in the north of Germany through to the Swiss border in t

Major manufacturers are introducing new machines for road milling and recycling that will boost output and lower the cost/m - Mike Woof writes New machines for milling and road recycling will offer increased performance and productivity than earlier generation equipment. Higher quality cutting will help contractors achieve smoother surfaces and considerably lower paving costs also. Meanwhile new recycler/stabiliser machines will offer a better cost/m and improve the economics of road recycling for contra

The market is seeing new wheeled loader and excavator models coming to market, including some radical new designs - Mike Woof writes. The global market for earthmoving machines is seeing some important developments. Manufacturers are now offering separate machines for customers in developed and developing markets. Meanwhile there are also some innovative concepts being made available. One of the most notable new earthmovers is the innovative VL70A vertical lift wheeled loader from LiuGong. This model featur

What sort of key trends will be on show, and how will these new technologies shape the sector over the coming years? Alan Dron interviewed Al Cervero, the AEM senior vice-president for construction, utility and mining on how the show will reveal what is coming. The theme for this year’s event is “Imagine what’s next”, a particularly appropriate title in view of the changes in both technology and the environment in which that technology will be used.

Early - and continuous planning - is essential for successful road widening projects. By Nina Sacagiu, project manager, and Laurent Charles-Nicolas, project director, at Egis. Keeping goods and people moving safely is the primary objective of any transport authority across the world. Delivering this objective on motorways and making the most out of network capacity requires all the resources, skills and ingenuity of those in charge of managing the infrastructure. When the network can no longer cope wit

Real time information on asphalt density and uniformity can boost construction quality - *Roger Roberts, GSSI. Properly compacted asphalt is a major factor in the lifespan of a road, as inadequately compacted asphalt deteriorates at a more rapid rate than properly compacted material. With the billions spent on road construction and repairs each year, it has become a matter of urgency to find new technologies that can ensure the integrity of asphalt on newly paved roads. New radio wave technology is now avai

Khabarovsk Bypass to raise transit potential of Russian Far East – Eugene Gerden writes The Russian Government, together with the government of Khabarovsk Territory, an administrative capital of the Far East, have announced the completion of preparations for the building of a new road. The Khabarovsk Territory is located 30km from the Chinese border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers. This new highway will boost the transport potential for the Russian Far East and will improve the traffic s

The Department of Rural Roads, Thailand (DRR) was rewarded for a comprehensive road safety initiative around schools, especially in rural areas. The award ceremony was held in the IRF offices in Geneva According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Thailand ranks among the countries with the highest number of traffic fatalities/ capita. In 2015, the country saw a road death rate of 36.2/100,000 of population. With this, Thailand ranked second in fatal traffic crashes worldwide and its situation regard

The department of transportation in the US state of Arizona has automated its data processes, says Duncan Guthrie. In Arizona, the Department of Transportation (ADOT) is improving the way it responds to the demand for information from the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA). ADOT is implementing an automated, repeatable process to simplify and smooth the creation and maintenance of their state-wide dataset. This will meet reporting requirements for ARNOLD - All Road Network Of Linear Referenced Data - an

Tough competition is being seen in the specialised market for concrete slipforming machines, with new partnerships and new technology coming to market - Mike Woof writes GOMACO is boosting the versatility of its Commander slipformer further with the development of the new Three-Track Commander IIIx variant. This has been configured to cope with much tighter radii than previous versions of the Commander III, allowing it to slipform a radius of just 610mm. This suits the machine to applications such as sli

The fourth edition of Bauma Conexpo India, which took place at Gurugram, near New Delhi, was dominated by road construction manufacturers and distributors, sharing heightened business confidence and buoyed by the Indian government's major thrust to develop road infrastructure. Partha Pratim Basistha reports

FETC innovation from Highway Toll to ITS Taiwan smart city – a Global Road Achievement Award winner says IRF. The Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Company (FETC) has a bold vision for the future. FETC has achieved the most successful BOT project for ITS traf_ c management; it turns the traditional highway toll collection system into an integrated intelligent electronic toll collection (ETC) system for mobility management.

The West Balkan countries are at a turning point in their political resolve to address road traffic injuries, but must step up efforts on the ground to deploy sustained and systemic responses to what has become a major public health crisis

This month we hear how additives can bring RAP back from the dead and fight the ravages of salt damage, how pellets reach parts that PMB can’t and how Shell and WeedsWest are expanding their respective businesses - Kristina Smith writes