Features

In the US state of Oklahoma, Silver Star Construction has adopted 3D technology for site modelling and stringless machine control The company, based in the town of Moore, recently used a Topcon Millimeter GPS system mounted on one of their Power Curber 5700-Cs to put down nearly 5,500m of curb and gutter in a residential housing addition in south-west Oklahoma City. Once the dirt work and grading was completed, the concrete crew got to work by mounting the Topcon receivers on their 5700-C. The Topcon

A Rammer 5011 rock breaker has been successfully used to break extremely hard granite on a Kuala Lumpur development. The excavation and site preparation for a development project in Taman Connaught, Cheras, in Kaula Lumpur’s south-eastern suburbs was recently undertaken by local civil engineering contractor, Crescendo Infra Sdn Bhd on behalf of a local developer. In order to deal with the extremely hard granite that was found in the locale, it was initially planned to bring in a blasting contractor to help

Winter was coming in the northern US state of Illinois and Sangamo Construction had to build 1.5km of bridge parapets just before the end of the construction season. Sangamo Construction was contracted to work on five bridges where some parapets needed to be 1m high x 48cm thick at the bottom, tapering to a width of just under 27cm at the top, and with a perpendicular rear wall. As much as 26m3 of concrete were processed just for the construction of the four 150m-long parapets on the twin bridges on Interst

Warsaw’s General Stefan Rowecki Bridge, or the Grota Bridge, is the second largest in the Polish capital and, as part of the Trasa Toruska expressway, it is the busiest. The structure, which opened in 1981, handles 150,000 cars daily, so repairs were always going to be tricky if minimal disruption to traffic was to occur. The steel orthotropic deck consists of two structurally independent parts – each with four traffic lanes. This meant that pedestrians and cyclists were restricted to two very narrow track

Key developments in the tyre market will allow certain firms to reposition themselves - Mike Woof writes. New tyre types are now coming to market, while key business developments will allow some firms to reposition themselves. Perhaps the biggest business development in the market is the deal to acquire the privately-owned Czech firm CGS Holding by Trelleborg in a move worth €1.1664 billion (SEK10.9 billion). The finalisation of the deal is subject to approvals from the competition authorities but should be

The diesel engine manufacturers are continuing their development of low emission engines as well as solutions for markets where fuel quality is an issue - Mike Woof writes. Developments in diesel engine technology are the continued focus for manufacturers facing tough challenges around the world. New low emission engines are being developed for developed markets such as Europe and the US, with Europe now taking a further step ahead to target pollutants from the tailpipe. Meanwhile firms are also looking int

The US’s Superpave standard is gaining dominance around the world – but there’s still work to be done where recycled material or other modifiers are added to the mix - Kristina Smith reports. A few years ago, there was still some debate in the testing world as to whether the US or European testing regimes would dominate. Today, it does seem that the US Superpave system is most widely used, albeit with local adaptations.

Mini excavators represent one of the most competitive markets for utility machines and are firm favourites with rental companies

The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida, was suffering departure delays on every single flight. The existing 9R-27L runway was too short at 1615m in length, affecting capacity at the airport. To deal with the issue, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners created a plan to extend the southern runway to 2438m to accommodate larger commercial aircraft. The project was not simple however and could not be achieved by tearing out the existing runway and buil

Drink-drive enforcement still has issues in Europe, according to pan-European police body TISPOL Drink-driving is the cause of around 5,000 road deaths in Europe. In the UK alone, it is estimated that 230 (14%) of the country’s 1,713 road deaths are due to drinking and driving. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland the limit for driving is still 80mg (0.8) of alcohol/100ml of blood. Scotland reduced its limit to 50mg (0.5) of alcohol/100ml of blood in December 2014, bringing it into line with most

The state of Europe’s road surfaces “is absolutely vital” if TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network, is going to achieve its target of halving road deaths across the continent by 2020 says AA president Edmund King Speaking at the 2015 TISPOL annual conference in Manchester, King warned that the deteriorating state of Europe’s road pavements has become “a serious problem” and that the number of potholes is now an important road safety issue for the enforcement community.

Europe’s road infrastructure is one of its largest community assets, yet today this asset faces unprecedented challenges. Shortage of public resources for maintenance, inadequate public procurement models for the delivery of infrastructure, coupled with the inevitable impact that the advent of vehicle automation will have on Europe’s infrastructure means that there is a urgent need for Europe’s road sector to work together to find solutions for the future. In this backdrop, and at a time when the UK governm

Bentley Systems has unveiled a wealth of new construction software technologies that can help optimise the progression of road projects - Mike Woof writes A host of new tools and software developments from Bentley Systems will help designers and construction firms deliver projects more quickly and efficiently. Senior vice president for Bentley Systems is Bhupinder Singh and he explained, “Our users are using more software and more devices than ever before and they’re creating more data.” He said that