Features

Kenya is introducing novel methods for funding its necessary road infrastructure development - Shem Oirere writes. Kenya has unveiled a new financing model for road construction and reviewed its design standards and construction methodologies, which forms part of a new strategy for the East African country. Under this new plan Kenya is planning to upgrade 10,000km of road, with these links featuring asphalt surfacing; the work being carried out over the next five years at a cost of US$2.8 billion. Despite t

The largest marble quarry in Russia is now benefiting from the first CI512 Prisec HSI crusher in the country. The machine is working at the Koelga Quarry, the largest Russian marble quarry, and one of the world’s largest. Supplied by Sandvik’s Russian distributor, Quarry Service, the CI512 Prisec operates 24 hours/day and the machine has improved the cubicity of the end product and boosted productivity by up to 50%, while decreasing noise emissions. Koelga Marble is Russia’s market leader in the prod

Crane manufacturer Manitowoc has supplied six Potain cranes to German contractor Max Bögl. These machines are being used for constructing a new bridge carrying the A3 autobahn, close to Limburg. Working at over 70m high, the cranes tower over the Lahn Valley. The cranes for this project were supplied by Max Bögl’s subsidiary, Max Bögl Transport & Geräte. The three topless Potain MDT 222 cranes were selected for the work as they feature tip heights of up to 76.2m and can operate with a working radius of

German contractor Joh. Sahler has changed its entire fleet of construction machinery to Hitachi Zaxis excavators. The two ZX38U-5s, ZX48U-3, ZX85USBLC-5, ZX145W-3, ZX170W-5 and ZX190W-3 were ordered by the Leverkusen-based company in June last year and delivered by the country’s authorised Hitachi dealer, Kiesel. Joh. Sahler was founded in 1945 and is now owned by a third-generation family member, Antonius Eisbach, and managed on a day-to-day basis by directors Dietmar Müller and Matthias Schindler.

Transport investment faces a shortfall that can perhaps never be breached – David Arminas writes There “will never be sufficient funds for all planned road activities,” said Ben Gericke, transport specialist at The World Bank. The road maintenance industry is going to have to use the best possible contract strategy to win the investment it needs. Speaking at the PPRS Paris 2015 Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit, Gericke said that the best way for the global highway construction and road maint

The three-year Rainvision project has ended and its report on better road markings is finalised. On 9 March, the Rainvision project held its final meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Rainvision, set up in 2012 and co-financed by the European Commission, has investigated the impact of road markings on driver behaviour under different night-time weather conditions, such as dry, wet and wet-rainy. The aim is to assess how different age and gender groups adapt their driving based on the visibility and retrorefle

A new report from the Lighting Research Center* at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute focuses on the benefits from switching to LED lighting technologies There is a rapidly changing landscape for roadway lighting worldwide, largely due to the widespread acceptance of light-emitting diode (LED) technology. In developed markets such as the US, this has opened up a universe of new possibilities regarding LED replacement lamps. There are 144 million high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps in the US, representing

Mike Dreznes, executive vice president at the International Road Federation (IRF) discusses road safety for work zone areas. Work zones around the world can create significant congestion and can cost society billions of dollars. Estimates in the United States alone include approximately 87,600 work zone crashes involving 37,500 injuries that result in 482 million lost hours, valued at approximately US$6.5 billion. When considering these numbers worldwide, it becomes clear that work zone safety and work zone

The Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Department for Traffic Signalization, University of Zagreb has carried out extensive research into markings in partnership with SWARCO. The two bodies have evaluated the performance of waterborne and solvent based paints under normal usage conditions. The aim is evaluate the use of waterborne road markings in Croatia, to reduce the emissions of volatile organic compounds and increase the safety of applicators by eliminating toxic and flammable materials. Te