Features

A Wirtgen slipform paver SP 15i operated fully automatically to produce kerbs near Mobile, in the US state of Alabama, as the company explains. When a new residential area is developed, the individual contract work sections are often very detailed. Roads and paths have to be paved and access roads to the individual plots constructed. Various traffic areas are often separated by concrete structures such as kerbs. These kerbs can be either pre-cast parts or monolithic profiles produced right on the job sit

The World Health Organization’s 2018 Global Road Safety Status Report – the definitive international road safety performance benchmark – paints an alarming picture, just two years from the United Nations’ target to cut fatal traffic injuries by 2020, and confirms that road fatalities represent one of the worst public health epidemics in history. “Think about it. In the Plague of Justinian in 541 and 542 AD, approximately 100,000,000 people died, making this event recognised as the worst epidemic in hist

A workshop into environmentally-friendly road construction was held in Denmark - report from Mikkel Bruun, Bruun Communication Recent advances in road construction have included the development of climate asphalt, which reduces rolling resistance and saves CO2. But what is it and how does it affect the production and use of asphalt pavements? And what are the socio-economic implications? The ROSE project that just ended with a workshop in Copenhagen might hold the answers. The rule of thumb is that lo

Morgan Morris, a master’s student at the University of Central Florida, recounts her life-changing experience as President of the 2019 Class of IRF Fellows After the short span of a week, a graduate research IRF Fellow transforms into an approachable, professional leader overflowing with inspiration and ideas. “In some ways, attending the IRF Fellows Road Scholar Program is comparable to going to an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. You are not sure what exactly you signed up for, but in the end, you rea

For more than 50 years, Evonik – a world leader in specialty chemicals and the inventor of MMA cold plastic road markings - has been at the forefront of efforts to improve road safety and disseminate best practices in the field On 18th December 2018, Evonik bestowed the 3rd edition of the “Evonik Road Safety Award” in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The Road Safety Award is designed to support sustainable road safety initiatives, as part of the company’s corporate and social responsibility. It acknowle

Bentley pushes ahead with acquisitions and partnerships Software specialist Bentley Systems is expanding its range of software products both through key acquisitions and in-house developments, as well as developing its partnerships with other firms. Two firms Bentley has bought are UK company Legion (see box) which is a leading provider of advanced pedestrian modelling software. The other acquisiation is the Swedish company Agency9, which offers city-scale digital twin cloud services that will help enabl

Getting the human-machine interface for equipment automation right is a lot trickier than expected. David Arminas reports from the CECE conference in Rome For many contractors, digitisation is key for improving on-site operational efficiency. But it may be time to take stock of progress and examine what does and doesn’t work. That is not to say that the anchors should be thrown out to halt development. Far from it. In the past eight months, the CECE - Committee for European Construction Equipment – led

A large milling machine from Wirtgen has been used to remove the top two asphalt layers of a key route in Japan in the city of Mito, around 140km north-east of Tokyo