Road Structures

A 'roller coaster' ride

July 16, 2012

The Gold Coast region in the Australian state of Queensland is internationally renowned as a tourist area attracting thousands of visitors from Brisbane, where the state's biggest ever road and bridge upgrade project is currently underway. Some 12km of urban route on the south of the Brisbane River is being expanded to take much increased traffic levels: the north is getting a completely new 7km section of motorway on a different alignment to bypass extra traffic, and tolls are being automated to speed flow

Developments in concrete pavers boosts quality

July 13, 2012

The latest technology continues to improve the quality of concrete paving while contractors are also benefiting from more adaptable equipment - Mike Woof reports For many concrete paving applications, versatility is required rather than a high production rate. Leading paver manufacturers such as GOMACO, Power Curbers, Terex and Wirtgen all offer high mobility machines that can be adjusted to cope with an array of tasks. For a contractor, the advantage of these smaller pavers is that they can be configured q

Fast flyover removal with specialist demolition equipment

July 12, 2012

An overcrowded Indian flyover was removed in record time using specialist demolition equipment, as Patrick Smith reports Demolition of the landmark Lalbaug flyover south of central Mumbai has been completed and work on a new bigger bridge has started in India's largest city. Although the 38-year-old Sant Dnyaneshwar (Lalbaug flyover) two-lane, one-way traffic artery was serviceable and used by to 15,000 vehicles/hour, there were daily traffic jams and environmental consequences. Despite the complex and dema

Poland's ambitious highway construction plans

July 10, 2012

The European football championships are among a number of things pushing Poland's ambitious highway building programme. Patrick Smith reports. Poland is planning to spend a colossal €4.57 billion on road projects in 2009, a 35% increase over the previous year. T

Solving Sao Paulo's traffic congestion problems

July 10, 2012

The Brazilian city of Sao Paulo suffers a heavily congested road network. Huge traffic jams up to 100km long are common and can be even 200km long in bad weather or at weekends and holidays. Of the 1.1 million vehicles that drive into Sao Paulo every day, almost a third are passing through and the new Rodoanel Mario Covas orbital route is intended to tackle the problem. This is a 170km long highway around the city that will connect the 10 highways linking Sao Paulo and allow many vehicles to avoid the conge

Building Spain's highest viaduct

July 9, 2012

Amid a mountain wilderness, a new highway system rises, featuring Spain's highest viaduct For years, motorists and truck drivers in northern Spain have had to endure using a dangerous road liable to traffic hold-ups, delays and accidents, and frequently impassable in the depths of winter. In any event it is a slow and tortuous climb from Molledo on the Cantabrian lowlands up the N-611 road through the Cantabrian Mountains to Palencia, on the Meseta, Spain's high central plateau.

Bridge and tunnel concrete testing vital for longevity

July 9, 2012

Modern technology is making testing more efficient and reliable, increasing productivity and reducing costs, as Patrick Smith reports A few years ago, visual inspection of an 18-year-old bridge by ARRB in Australia identified considerable cracking in the precast, prestressed deck planks as well as in the cast in situ deck overlay. Laboratory examination indicated that the deck planks and the deck overlay were suffering from a strong case of alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR). Testing of concrete cores drilled

Engineering elegance in bridge design

July 9, 2012

Multi-award-winning bridge designer Michel Virlogeux was the keynote speaker at the recent Austroads Bridge conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand, last month. He had a simple message: Bridge design is the realm of the engineer and should not be given to architects. "Bridge architecture, bridge aesthetics, bridge elegance is the problem of engineers. We must not leave this major part of our job to architects," he said. "I always work with an architect, but the architect is not selecting the structure. To

Pre-stressed bridge decks use modular formwork system

July 9, 2012

Imaginative formwork, often using modular components, is helping to shape some challenging bridges worldwide. Patrick Smith reports Traffic volumes in and around Prague have swollen massively in recent years, pushing the existing road network to the limits of its capacity. To permanently ease congestion in the Czech capital's centre, a multi-lane orbital motorway is under construction as a high capacity bypass for central Prague and to link up all the motorways and other major highways radiating from the ci

Bridge surface repair improves safety

July 9, 2012

Modern products are making life easier for those who have to look after bridges in need of repair Aproject to repair a bridge in the American state of Tennessee has brought safety benefits and improved the ride quality for drivers using the crossing. The Chickasaw Bridge spans the Ellington Parkway and it has benefited from a rehabilitation job by contractor Jamieson Construction. The roadway on the bridge was in a poor state and required frequent patching, and to tackle the problem, the Tennessee DOT consi