Colombia's rapidly improving highway network is making a major boost to the country's economy. Though a national roads plan had been in place since the last century, road building and pavement maintenance only became a priority in 2000 when the current administration headed by President Álvaro Uribe Vélez came to power.
The recent co-located Samoter and Asphaltica exhibitions at VeronaFiere in Verona, Italy, have been hailed a success by organisers, exhibiting companies and trade delegations, after more than 40,000 visitors, including thousands from outside Italy, attended the combined 445 exhibitor company-strong four-day events. There is no doubt, as Guy Woodford reports, they provided a timely boost to an Italian construction equipment manufacturing sector enduring tough times
Researchers from the UK’s Lancaster University will design, fabricate and test systems that generate electricity using piezoelectricity and hydromechanical dynamics from passing vehicles.
The electricity produced will be stored in roadside batteries to power street lamps, road signs and air pollution monitors in the town of Aylesbury. There will also be sensors that detect the formation of potholes, according to a statement from the university’s engineering department.
In addition, the so-called smart
Soil stabilisation offers a cost effective solution for road construction in the right conditions Ensuring the soil underneath the aggregate base of a road has been stabilised with cement, lime or fly-ash can provide a greater working life and a reduced risk of problems that can arise as the road ages, such as subsidence. The technology works particularly well in ground with high clay content and where there are local shortages of stone for use in aggregates. Reducing the need for aggregates where they are
