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Greater GPS accuracy suggests closer tolerances for surveying and machine control functions What happens in the future for GPS surveying and machine control could depend on satellite choice and signals. Right now there are around 30 satellites in orbit, largely built by the US, but by 2012 that could rise to 120 as Europe, China, India and Russia fully enter the market. A chequered history has faced the European's Galileo system. At long last, the finance appears to be in place and the European Commission a

Preserving the unspoiled Mullum Mullum Valley was the major consideration when deciding to build a traffic tunnel The answer to one of the major issues facing construction of the A$2.5 billion EastLink route in Australia was simple: construct a tunnel. While it was expensive, those involved realised they had little option but to go underground to protect the environmentally sensitive Mullum Mullum Valley, an untouched area of wood and bushland in Melbourne. EastLink, the 39km toll road project on the easter

Increasingly, and where possible, roads are being built in tunnels often for environmental reasons, writes Patrick Smith As part of the new M7 motorway development in the southwest of Ireland, the four-lane route crosses the River Shannon near Limerick, before it flows into the Atlantic. Centrepiece of the 10km long Limerick Southern Ring Road is the required tunnelling (675m long), which including the north and south entrance and exit ramps, means it will be 915m long. Completion of the work is planned for

Built in 1937 and still the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay remains in fine shape despite its age - Andrew Bardin Williams writes The Golden Gate Bridge turned 75 years old on May 27 and continues to play a key role in the transportation, engineering, construction and ITS communities. The structure has played an important historical role, an engineering success that boosted the economy of the region. And it also led the way as the first major pub

In 2006 Traficon won the first project on the world's first artificial island, the iconic Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, to provide incident detection and traffic data collection along the main arterial road. The technology used included 18 detection units and was won with Siemens Building Technology. The company also won the contract for the tunnel: 26 detection units, in cooperation with Japanese Kinden Corporation. "The Palm Jumeirah vehicular tunnel is in fact the third tunnel (the others are the airport tunne

Sandvik is rolling out a range of sophisticated tunnelling jumbo drilling rigs, equipped with advanced automation features. The new DTi models feature wide coverage and powerful HX5T drifters that enable them to carry out large and small and tunnelling jobs. To optimise operation, the four machines can use Sandvik's latest iSURE software, which allows blasting operations to be designed on a PC and then downloaded onto the rigs using conventional USB memory sticks: this allows full automation of the face dri

In 2002, bridge conditions in the State of Oregon were declining. Projections were made that 30% of Oregon's bridges would have weight restriction within 8-years, causing a productivity loss to Oregon's economy of US$123 billion including 88,000 jobs. By 2012, Oregon’s State Bridge Delivery Program had been recognized nationally and internationally with awards for excellence and innovation, most recently scooping IRF’s Global Road Achievement Award for Quality Management.

According to World Health Organisation figures, 307 lives were lost in over 13,000 road accidents in 2011, a figure dominated by male drivers and car occupants. Buoyed by IRF’s Safer Road by Design seminar which preceded the Congress, the Road Safety Unit in the Jamaican Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing is already taking steps to address the presence of turned-down ends and concrete utility poles on the country’s roadsides.

The Ministry of Transport, Works, and Housing of Jamaica is the first recipient of the "IRF Decade of Action Find A Way” Award, an annual competition instituted by IRF Washington Chairman Abdullah Al-Mogbel to recognises outstanding personal commitment to safer roads by national, regional, or city government. Under the leadership of Dr Omar Davies, the ministry has overseen an ambitious regulatory overhaul and infrastructure improvement program within the framework of the national “Save 300 Lives” campaign