Highway & Network Management

Variable message signs are increasingly seen on the world’s motorways. World Highways looks at some of the latest developments UK manufacturer of temporary, solar powered variable message signs, Bartco UK, has unveiled what it says is the first temporary VMS designed for use within work zones. Bartco said that its HD Quattro was developed in response to feedback from customers requiring a product to affirm on-site speed limits for work zone vehicles. The unit is designed to show limited amounts of inform

The BEUMER Group claims that its new materials handling system can generate cost savings for cement plants. The Autopac 3000 system allows the simultaneous loading and palletising of bagged materials such as cement, lime and gypsum. The firm says that this new handling system can replace time-consuming and potentially inaccurate hand bagging operations. Accuracy is optimised by the conveyor, which delivers the bags and provides a second quality control check. The bags are weighed automatically by the sys

Turkey’s new Osman Gazi Bridge has now opened for traffic. This bridge can carry 40,000 vehicles/day, while halving the travel time needed using previous routes. This is a six lane suspension bridge measuring 3km and spanning the Sea of Marmara. Construction has taken 42 months and the structure has been designed to cope with the risk of earthquakes. The project has been co-ordinated by Japanese construction company IHI, with Siemens handling the role of electro and mechanical contractor. Siemens has dev

Highways England has awarded a contract to deliver a central traffic signal control and management system for south-east England to Simulation Systems Limited (SSL) Central to the contract, for England’s motorway and major A-roads, will be a Siemens Stratos system which is designed to be the UK’s first cloud-hosted, fully integrated traffic control and management solution. The project will also include Hosted-SCOOT, a real time UTC and adaptive traffic control system. It is already used to manage and

For sale: one UK toll motorway along with operating business. Well maintained. Price negotiable. David Arminas looks at what is on offer As if right on cue, a French articulated truck starts to back up along the hard shoulder at an exit area of M6toll. The manoeuvring is watched from an office inside the nearby M6toll headquarters. Inside, Andy Pearson, chief executive of M6toll, glances over his shoulder and interrupts his presentation to World Highways. “He’s probably missed the dedicated wide-load

Weigh-in-motion technology is ensuring increasingly accurate, and flexible, weighing stations. Weigh-in-motion specialist manufacturer Axtec says that its space-saving dynamic weighbridge is accurate to within ±0.5% and is the most precise system in the world. From its Runcorn, UK manufacturing facility, Axtec undertakes research and development of new technologies, as well as software testing, fabrication, construction and installation of WIM products. Axtec’s axle weighing platform design is intended f

DEVISAB recently awarded a major contract to modernise the control centre and renew three toll plazas on a highway linking the municipality of Chia with Girardot and Soacha, west of capital Bogota Indra already has a strong position in the Colombian infrastructure and transport industry. The firm operates flagship projects such as the Bogota-Villavicencio divided highway and the Medellin urban mobility system The contract is to renovate the technology used at three toll plazas and a control centre fo