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New developments in the software sector will improve construction efficiency. Standards organisation BSI is working with government, industry bodies, and private construction practices to create best practice standards for implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM). In 2011 the UK Government announced that all suppliers that wish to bid for public sector construction contracts must use BIM tools and techniques from 2016, making its implementation commercially critical for companies that wish to apply

India’s new Formula 1 motor racing circuit, with its tight construction tolerances, demands considerable driving skill. More than 500 million people worldwide watched the first Formula 1 motor race in India's history. The drivers were thrilled by the new asphalt circuit with its numerous bends and the peripheral area around the new race track at Greater Noida near the capital New Delhi, which were built by machinery from German company Vögele (a member of the Wirtgen Group). Working with four Super 1800-

New initiatives could boost transport sustainability – David Crawford writes. New roles are opening up for urban traffic management systems in helping city authorities to meet increasingly stringent governmental and supra-governmental air quality standards. European local authorities are typically tasked with both traffic management and pollution monitoring within their areas, making them well placed to draw on the latter to mitigate the impacts of the former.

We meet with Dr. Essam Sharaf, the former Prime Minister of Egypt, who has been honoured as IRF Personality of the Year for 2011 On 28 March, at a moving ceremony packed with IRF friends and delegates from all over the world, the IRF Personality of the Year Award for 2011 was formally presented to Dr. Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf. Discerned annually since 1951, the Award honours individuals universally acknowledged as having made particularly inspirational contributions to the fields of road infrastructure and

Research in the US has shown that using Intelligent Compaction (IC) for quality control purposes can lead to longer-lasting pavements and therefore lower whole life costs. Now the major roller manufacturers are investing heavily in developing new technologies that will meet emerging specifications in the States. “It may take five to ten years but I think that IC will be widely used for both soils, aggregate base and asphalt pavement materials in the US,” said Bob Horan, senior regional engineer at the Asph

Re-using crumb rubber in asphalt offers numerous benefits – Mike Woof In the US, the use of crumb rubber from old car and truck tyres in asphalt mixes has been tried over a number of years. The technology has improved considerably too, with this approach now offering much longer lasting performance. Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is one of the latest states to adopt this approach and has amended its road construction specifications to include recycled tyre rubber as an alternative to conventi

German firm Wirtgen is retaining its lead in road recycling technologies – Mike Woof writes Tests on cold recycling with a new layer thickness using Wirtgen's sophisticated WR 4200 machine have shown impressive results according to the firm. The road construction and traffic authority Landesbetrieb Mobilität (LBM) Cochem-Koblenz commissioned a pilot project as part of its plan to optimise the cold in-place recycling process (CIR). The aim was to examine the extent to which the layer thickness can be reduced

New stabiliser/reclaimer models are coming to market – Mike Woof reports With road recycling becoming a more widely used approach, several key manufacturers are meeting demands for higher performance. From BOMAG comes the latest version of the MPH 125 soil stabiliser/recycler, which is now available with the new FLEXMIX technology. This package is said to set new standards in mix quality for all applications, with an optional change in the mix function that broadens the range of options available to the