Features

A new concrete road is now open to traffic in Nigeria’s Kogi State. This is of note as the new 24km road is the now the country’s longest to be made from concrete. The new road was built in a joint venture partnership between Nigerian firm Dangote Construction and Brazilian company Andrade Gutierrez. The new road connects Kabba with Obajana. Part of the Dangote Group, Dangote Construction was well placed to carry out the work as it operates its Obajana Cement production facility, at Obajana. This new road

Simon Topp, director of international business at software developer Yotta, explained the need for having the best possible plan in place. Highways agencies and departments the world over face a raft of complex and difficult challenges when it comes to managing and maintaining their infrastructure assets. In some countries, where natural disasters or extreme weather events are endemic, good asset management will need to be supplemented by risk and resilience planning. In the US, for example, the Feder

Mapping the asset High-speed data collection just got faster for England’s newly created strategic roads operator Highways England’s establishment as a publicly held company in 2015 created a need for a highly accurate asset inventory. This was potentially very costly and had serious safety implications. As well as its relationships with numerous managing agents and contractors, assets include 35,300km of highway, 12,100km of earthworks, 23,200km of safety fences, 150,000 technology assets and sig

Pont-de-Veyle is a picturesque village of around 1,600 people in France’s eastern Rhones-Alps region. Being in a tourist area and close to major towns and cities meant that traffic – around 9,000 vehicles a day through its small streets – was becoming a concern The village sits about 30km from the larger town of Bourg-en-Bresse, towards the Swiss border. It also lies around 60km from the city of Lyon, all in the Department of Ain. The regional administrative authority Ain created the Conseil Départementa

Construction activity is underway on a number of key transport infrastructure projects in Colombia. A major bridge project spanning the Magdalena River is currently under construction close to the city of Barranquilla in the north of Colombia. The Pumarejo Bridge was commissioned by Instituto Nacional de Vías (INVIAS) and is being built by a consortium. Featuring a cable-stayed design, the bridge will be 2.28km in length, with three lanes for vehicles, as well as a pedestrian area and a cycle track in b

Turkish firm E-MAK has a reputation for delivering innovative solutions to the industry, with its presence at the bauma exhibition in Munich providing further proof. The firm’s two latest bitumen storage developments could cut costs for plant operators substantially. The new Bi SAS 300 system from E-MAK is intended to cut the cost of bitumen storage by lowering heating bills. According to E-MAK’s chairman, S Nezir Gencer, the operators of most asphalt plants tend to focus on how much fuel the burners used t

Developing safety for non-motorised transport in East Africa - Shem Oirere writes. Despite increasing national budgetary allocations for the road sector in recent years, governments in East Africa have made very low investments in non-motorised transport (NMT). This is despite the fact that both Kenya and Uganda have recently passed a policy on pedestrian and cycling safety. In Kenya, the County government of Nairobi, the country’s capital, has embraced a NMT policy, while in Uganda the government has passe

The adoption of new technology will boost productivity for machinery users - Colin Sowman writes Since the inception of earthmoving machinery, equipment manufacturers have been striving to make the process faster, quieter, easier and more fuel efficient. Now many manufacturers are looking at ways to improve the efficiency of drive systems to reduce complexity, maintenance and fuel use.

The International Road Federation (IRF), together with IRF India, is putting out this Call for Papers to invite authors to submit abstracts for presentation at the World Road Meeting (WRM) in 2017. This conference will be of interest to professionals, academics, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners involved with road transport and mobility. The conference will take place place 14 to 17 November 2017 in Delhi, India.

IRF Geneva chairman invites you to attend the World Road Meeting - 14–17 November 2017 , Delhi, India. in view of the growing demand for road infrastructure andmobility, and the increasing importance of India as a market for road infrastructure and services, India is a befitting venue for this mega event. The theme of the 18th WRM is “Safe Roads and Smart Mobility: The Engines of Economic Growth.” WRM 2017 will bring together representatives of business, industry, governments, public sector organisat

Asphalt plant manufacturers agree that recycled asphalt is a valuable resource that is too good to waste - Mike Woof writes. Around the globe there is growing interest in the use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). The technology to utilise RAP in asphalt mixes has been available for some time, with a range of asphalt plant manufacturers in the US and Europe having developed a number of solutions. However, take-up of this technology has varied, with the US pushing ahead with the use of RAP while progress ha

Key innovations in asphalt compaction will help improve overall paving quality - Mike Woof writes

The Black Sea Ring Road project will improve transport connections for the region - Eugene Gerden writes. Russia has officially started implementation of a project, known as the Black Sea Ring Road, which involves building a four-lane highway system connecting the countries surrounding the Black Sea. The Black Sea Ring Road is a substantial project, a highway measuring some 7,140km in all. Among the countries participating in the project are Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Greece and

Mongolia’s economy is growing fast, with capital Ulaanbaatar the centre for activity. Being landlocked, the country depends heavily on aviation to carry passengers and cargo. The existing Chinggis Khaan International Airport was built in 1956 and upgraded in 1987 and 1997 for international traffic. But the old airport cannot meet demands and boosting the country’s capacity to handle flights is essential. The New Ulaanbataar International Airport (NUBIA) will triple passenger capacity to approximately 3