Features

The current Paso de Agua Negra is the highest border crossing between Chile and Argentina. On the Argentine side, the Agua Negra Pass is located at 4,765m above sea level and 260km from the city of San Juan in the province of San Juan in the north-west of the country. On the Chilean side, the pass lies 229km from the city of La Serena in the Coquimbo region. The pass can be accessed from the Argentine side via National Highway No 150 from the province of La Rioja, which runs for a total of 390km. From the C

Implementation of some large-scale investment projects for road building in Russia’s capital Moscow may be significantly delayed A series of major documentation issues are the cause of the problem. These have delayed projects for up to nine tenders on the total sum of US$2.6 billion (95 billion rubles), with anomalies having been found by the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service.

On 5 March 2014, the Polish Road Congress organised a consultation seminar on road markings standards across the EU The conference followed the publication of the latest proposal by the ERF for an EU-wide intervention and maintenance policy for road markings, commonly known as 150x150. The proposed policy illustrates the ERF’s view that road markings should have a minimum width of 150mm for all roads, and their performance should not be allowed to drop below 150mcd/lux/m² (R3) in dry weather conditions a

The British Government policy paper ‘Action for Roads: A network for the 21st century’ sets out radical change to the strategic way roads are funded and managed – including plans to turn the Highways Agency into a Government-owned company and a pledge to invest over €33.4 billion (£28 billion) in roads maintenance between 2015 and 2020. Jenny Moten, Highways Agency divisional director for Network Services, gave a keynote presentation on the new approach to strategic highways management during the Road Safet

Driveline technology continues to develop rapidly, with many manufacturers at this year’s Conexpo exhibition showing Tier 4 Final emissions solutions, along with a host of fuel saving transmissions and hydraulic systems, all aiming to reduce operating costs for the customer. However, while there was certainly a hybrid presence at the show, things haven’t perhaps moved forward as fast as many had expected.

Engines and drivelines technologies have move forward, as could be seen at Conexpo 2014 - Geoff Ascroft reports Solutions for Tier 4 Final emissions regulations dominated Conexpo 2014, with many firms showing off their options of DOC, DPF and SCR after-treatments. Deutz, while staying with an SCR-only solution, took a more unusual approach on its high horsepower V6 12litre and V8 16litre engines. Both get a dual SCR after treatment system to meet Tier 4 Final emission standards. Using a dual SCR system,

Volvo Construction Equipment is posting optimistic financial results that show an increase in deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2013. The firm reports deliveries climbing by 9% as global markets show signs of improvement. A slowly recovering global market helped Volvo Construction Equipment round off 2013 with sales up 3% in the fourth quarter and improved market share, especially in compact equipment.

Among the new developments in materials testing highlighted this month is a brand new idea from one manufacturer: in-depth training to help upskill technicians in developing countries - Kristina Smith reports CONTROLS has added another dimension to its business with the launch of a specialist training service: CONTROLS Academy Centre. In what the construction testing equipment manufacturer believes is a first for the industry, CONTROLS will be providing in-depth theoretical and practical training to thos

Advances in survey technology and the evolving face of road procurement are driving demand for highway condition data. Mark Thomas, infrastructure services manager at Fugro Aperio writes how surveys of new roads can improve long-term quality While a growing suite of non-intrusive testing, measurement and survey technologies are widely used to target highway repairs and to determine asset management strategies, the use of these powerful tools remains patchy in the early stages of the infrastructure life cycl

Standfirst: Leading tolling technology solution manufacturer Kapsch TrafficCom has recently been appointed to deliver two major electronic tolling projects in Australia, as Guy Woodford reports Kapsch TrafficCom’s new key Australian contracts will see the Austrian firm use its multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) single gantry solution on the Eastern Distributor toll road in Sydney and the Legacy Way toll road in Brisbane. The MLFF single gantry solution includes innovative stereoscopic vehicle detection and classi

Radar Portal Systems (RPS) has spent a lot of time developing its sophisticated pavement top-surface photometric imaging system so it can cater specifically for the aviation market. This has now been specially developed for use on aircraft runways and taxiways The system was recently used at Brisbane Airport to survey runway and runway shoulders, collecting photometric top-surface data at a 4m width at speeds of up to 100km/h. This dataset allows the firm to display meshing data of the runway surface showin