Automated road repairs using 3D printing could save money and reduce disruption, reports Kristina Smith
It’s the middle of the night and in the street below a team is busy carrying out repairs to the road surface. But there isn’t a human in sight.
A road-repair drone has landed at the site of a crack and a 3D asphalt printer is now busy filling in that crack. A group of traffic cone drones have positioned themselves around the repair location to protect the repair drone and divert traffic around it.
The new elevated motorway connecting Mexico City ring road with Mexico-Cuernavaca motorway is due for completion in March 2016. The Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) originally said that the link would be completed by December 31st 2015. The delays have been attributed to the complication in coordinating operations between the construction of a 5km-stretch built by SCT and the 2km section built by Mexico City’s Government. The two works could not be carried out at the same time. When
According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), changes in the way the US Government reviews bridge projects could speed repairs. ARTBA has long-advocated this change, which could save US taxpayers an estimated US$78 million and reduce wait times for repair projects on more than 196,000 bridges in the country. The decision by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) will allow the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to streamline the historic preservation proces
