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Siemens leeds the way
June 18, 2012
Siemens has been asked by Leeds City Council to provide a new city-wide IP-Communications network. The network will initially be used for a new Urban Traffic Management Control (UTMC) system and may later support CCTV as well as the extension of UTMC to more than 1,000 sites. The UTMC system in Leeds controls around 400 signals in Leeds and Calderdale and is said to be key to keeping traffic moving through the large West Yorkshire city. Reliable communications are crucial, but to date this is said to have c
Rwanda roads projects get government cash
June 18, 2012
Funding for vital highway construction and repair projects in Rwanda has been approved as part of the country’s budget for 2012/13. The government will have more than US$ 2.18billion (RWF 1.30tn) to work with with the infrastructure sector, including highways development, being allocated just over 23% of that total. Among highways projects due to receive budgeted funding are:
Doka’s fine form
June 18, 2012
Doka’s SKE50 automatic climbing formwork are being used on two suspension towers for a new multi-lane cable-stayed bridge alongside an older viaduct in Zaporozhye, south-east Ukraine. On completion, this large-scale infrastructure project is set to massively reduce the traffic burden on the existing bridge and significantly improve the daily traffic situation at what is a major river crossing. The two separate roadway slabs are cable-stayed off twin H-shaped suspension towers 150metres high. Lead project co
Fast-track demolition
June 18, 2012
Heavy hydraulic breakers and a six-tonne combi cutter from Atlas Copco is said to have played a key part in enabling Armac to complete the demolition of the former Catthorpe motorway interchange viaduct within the 36 hours prescribed by the Highways Agency. Bridge dismantling experts Armac deployed no fewer than 10 Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers – six HB 4200, two HB 5800 and two HB 7000 units – to dismantle the 5,500tonne, 85metre long structure. In addition, Armac also used an Atlas Copco CC 6000 hydrauli
Ethics and Financial Integrity in Highway Project Management
June 18, 2012
Billions of dollars are invested each year in highway construction and maintenance projects across the world. Up to 5% of these funds are estimated to be lost on account of insufficient ethical and financial oversight. Highway Agencies and tendering authorities are particularly at risk. Implementing financial integrity principles stretches public budgets further and is beneficial to the relation with private sector contractors. According to the World Bank, the most common forms of wrongdoing are collusion
World Meeting Outreach Committee Chair makes the case for a wide engagement in the buildup to the 17th IRF World Meeting
June 18, 2012
Held every four years since 1952, IRF World Meetings have always offered the international road community a rare opportunity to present what they do best and discuss what they could do better. As he prepares to take on the role of chairman of the Outreach Committee, Jean-Claude Roffé, a senior manager at Colas, notes “there isn’t a single recipe for successful World Meetings, but collective experience gained over the last half-century provides guidance in at least three areas:” Local support, global succes
Traffic management drives sustainability
June 18, 2012
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.
Rebuilding the Human Dimension
June 18, 2012
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
Aussie demonstration for BG
June 18, 2012
A live crash demonstration of the Highway Care (HC) manufactured BarrierGuard 800 portable steel safety barrier was staged recently at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney, Australia. Organised by the Boylan Group, Highway Care International’s (HCI) partner, and Australia’s largest equipment hire company, Coates Hire, the event drew 200 Australian engineers, designers and road industry professionals and showcased technology already established throughout Europe.
Noise generators for electric cars
June 18, 2012
New rules in the US mean that electric vehicles will require noise generation equipment. This covers electric vehicles and hybrids as well as motorcycles, medium and heavy trucks and buses. It specifies that the alert sound must be sufficient to allow a pedestrian to detect a nearby EV or PHEV operating at constant speed, accelerating, decelerating and operating in any other critical scenarios. It must reflect the minimum sound level emitted by a motor vehicle that is necessary to allow visually-impaired an