Features

All-wheel-drive trucks for the Chinese market - Mike Woof reports. One noticeable development at the bauma China exhibition in Shanghai in late 2012 was the proliferation of ADT models. Doosan and Volvo showed some of their latest ADT variants alongside their latest excavators and are keen to highlight the benefits of ADTs for use on sites where traction or grade may be an issue for rigid trucks or on/off highway haulers. However Caterpillar chose to highlight its off-highway rigid trucks at bauma China, as

India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ

A wide range of new models is being introduced for the asphalt equipment compaction market – Mike Woof reports. The asphalt compaction equipment market is seeing the introduction of new machines from an array of major manufacturers. Manufacturers have introduced both steel drum and rubber tyred rollers to meet customer demands in specific markets as well as globally, and have also developed innovative new compaction practices. Competition in the asphalt compaction market is increasingly tough, with many of

Maintenance of roads in historic districts is a challenge for communities around the world. The sanctity of the surroundings limits the amount of re-engineering and widening that can be considered. Improvement options typically are limited to repairs. Yet repairs also have an impact. The historic areas usually attract tourists and their crucial economic contributions. If the street repairs create too much of an inconvenience, tourists are likely to avoid the area and a negative economic impact and a loss of

Productivity and profitability mean more than how many metres per minute your cold planer mills. In today’s world, precision is every bit as important as pace. Precision eliminates costly rework. It ensures crews don’t remove excess materials, and incur the associated costs in fuel, hauling and machine life. Precision also impacts the entire life—and cost—of a project by creating the proper foundation on which all subsequent work occurs. Cat® Grade and Slope for cold planers helps deliver that precision. Am

Pneumatic concrete dowel drills have one purpose – to drill holes. While their intended use is easy to recognize, operation of this equipment isn’t quite so simple. In fact, it’s a bit of a science. That’s not to say they’re difficult to operate. But there are certain best practices and processes to keep in mind for proper drill operation, whether it’s an on-grade, slab-rider or equipment-mounted model. Operators who adopt these guidelines and implement them on every job are rewarded with better performance

The European Union provide €1.4 million from the TEN-T Programme a project to maximise road and tunnel safety on the planned Stockholm bypass in Sweden. The project forms part of the Nordic Triangle railway/road axis (TEN-T Priority Project 12), will help ensure safety on the new route. The project was selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call. The work will cover important safety and security studies and tests for the Stockholm bypass, which will feature 18km of tunnels. These studies aim to pr