Features

The current US transportation funding law expires in September 2009. The current law allocates US$286 billion to highway and transportation projects. However, simply re-authorising the same amount will not be sufficient to build, maintain and improve the nation's roads, bridges, airports, and other deteriorating infrastructure. The backlog of projects unaddressed has swollen to the point where the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) says it will take $1.6 trillion to address the country's road and in

The UK’s Construction Equipment Association plays a key role in Europe - Mike Woof writes The UK’s Construction Equipment Association (CEA) is playing an important role within Europe, for manufacturers, customers and also for the wider benefit of industry as a whole. One important project where the CEA is closely involved with other sister organisations within the pan-European organisation CECE is with the rationalisation of machine regulations. Requirements were supposed to have been harmonised in 1992, an

As Russia prepares for a major Asia Pacific conference in nearly four years' time, the economic climate is felt in other countries in the region. Patrick Smith reports AUS$1 billion-plus suspension bridge is to be built to link the city of Vladivostok in the far east of Russia and Russky Island. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has signed an instruction for construction of the 3,150m long bridge, which is intended to provide access to the 24th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, to be held o

Concrete slipforming technology offers long term roadway and barrier construction with new technology now available - Mike Woof reports With road construction investment being seen around the world, concrete slipformer manufacturers are seeing strong export sales at present. New models are coming to market also with manufacturers continuing to broaden ranges by offering additional features and capabilities. US concrete paving specialist GOMACO is benefiting from extensive worldwide sales, with its long term

Aerial survey specialist Bluesky is funding research into the development and use of a new system to map the UK’s cities and towns at night. Bluesky has teamed up with the University of Leicester to look at solutions using new high sensitivity camera sensor technology. Mounted on survey aircraft, the new system can record the location of street lights, illuminated road signs and other night-time sources of light. This can deliver an accurate resource for asset inventories, light pollution assessment and ene

Troxler Electronic Laboratories is celebrating 50 years of providing services to the highway industry. In this half-century, Troxler says it has been awarded over 100 patents by the US Patent Office for innovative products that have improved or created many of the new technologies used today in the construction industry. The company is originally known for its nuclear moisture density gauges, but it also provides non-nuclear electromagnetic density devices as well as Superpave gyratory compactors, asphalt i

New software and GIS innovations will help boost construction efficiency - Mike Woof reports Major software suppliers continue to develop their technology and offer new products to the market. Major developments from leading firms will help improve operations for contractors in many segments of the construction industry, from initial design and planning through to maintenance. Version 8 of the well-known ARCADY program for assessment of roundabout capacity is just released by UK transport research and soft

Specialist equipment is available for carrying out a variety of important tests on asphalt It is important to know how asphalt will react to various conditions such as heat, cold and traffic loads when it is laid on roads. Project specifications will give detailed criteria of what is required, and companies will either ask outside laboratories to make sure the material meets the specs, or will often carry out such tests themselves with trained staff in an on-site laboratory. This will be equipped with the

A versatile solution has helped with a tricky project at the Grand Canyon in the US – Pierre Peltier When Intermountain Slurry Seal, a division of Granite Construction, submitted its bid in 2009 to repair roads and parking lots along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, the company knew the job would come with challenges. The remote roads leading from Jacob’s Lake, Arizona, to the North Rim Lodge had deteriorated to a point that the Federal Highway Association’s (FHWA) Central Federal Lands (CFL) Highway Division

Statistics show that wet weather and the dark is not the best mix for driving, but road markings offer a safety solution While good road markings are essential any time of the day, it is perhaps at night when roads are wet that they can offer extra guidance. Statistics are said to reveal that an estimated 50% of all accidents happen during the night when it rains but such conditions occur only 10% of the time and when there are usually less vehicles on the road. Indeed, at the 1st Road Marking Symposium hel