Features

The bridge over Auckland Harbour celebrates its half century this year, and it has been given a major upgrade to ensure that safety is maintained in New Zealand's largest city. Mary Searle reports. Auckland is New Zealand's largest city, home to nearly a third of the entire country's population. It's a sprawling metropolis, and its 1.3 million people are spread over 637km² of city, suburbs and islands. The Auckland Harbour Bridge, which celebrates its 50th birthday in May, is a vital link in the city's road

Efficient crushing and screening processes help produce quality products, Mike Woof reports. Having an efficient crushing and screening operation is crucial to the cost-effectiveness of a quarry as well as providing the best quality product. The crushing circuit is a key component in any quarry with the right selection of equipment as well as effective maintenance important factors in optimising performance.

The future of Scotland's Forth Road Bridge is posing serious questions with a wide potential impact for the transportation sector. All over the world existing highway bridges are in need of repair and replacement, with potentially catastrophic consequences should this need be ignored.

Road safety is a crucial issue worldwide and on the busy roads of the 27 EU nations, action is being taken to reduce the annual death toll. As a way forward the EU nations have agreed a new safety target to reduce road deaths by 50% by 2020. This follows on from the target set in 2001 of halving road deaths by 2010 and which saw progress being achieved in most countries.

China is at a turning point in many ways. The country's continuing economic growth is fuelling a massive increase in vehicle numbers, with no signs of slackening. This is most acute and most visible in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, where traffic jams are now a frequent occurrence

Speed of erection, safety, cost-efficiency and flexibility are among the attributes of modern formwork systems. Modern formwork and scaffolding systems are attractive in particular for their speed of erection, safety, cost-efficiency and flexibility.

Most of the major manufacturers of extraction and crushing equipment worldwide will be present at the upcoming Hillhead show, either directly or through local distributors. Set in a working quarry, the Hillhead exhibition has set a lead for the quarrying sector. An industry only show, the event is being held this year at the Hillhead Quarry, Buxton in the UK on 22-24 June.

Corporate results from a series of equipment manufacturers for the early part of 2011 all seem to agree that demand for machines continues to improve.

Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is a UK government-funded body designed to encourage greater resource efficiency. This body completed a trial with contractor Balfour Beatty and the Highways Agency to test the innovative use of recycled organic compost along roadside embankments.

Leica Geosystems says that its new Viva TS12 performance robotic package offers a comprehensive package of surveying solutions.

Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City's dense population, which was estimated to be 10,680 persons/km2 in 2005, is, over the next ten years, set to benefit from the completion of the Thu Thiem Urban Area project, which will provide homes for up to 200,000 people.

AT THE TIME of year it is worth considering how strong the construction market will be towards the end of 2010 and on into 2011. The build-up to the Bauma construction equipment exhibition in Munich, the world's largest exhibition, has helped fuel new product introductions from manufacturers, attracted contractors to visit the event and brought healthy interest to the construction sector as a whole.