Features

A massive AU$2 billion update of the Gateway Motorway in Queensland is underway to improve an infrastructure stretched by population boom. Report and photographs by Adrian Greeman Just 20 years after the Australian city of Brisbane built its Gateway Motorway with a high slim signature bridge dominating the river skyline, the road is being completely revamped. Some 12km of urban route on the south of the Brisbane River is being expanded to take much increased traffic levels; the north is getting a completely

Political hostility to a toll road project in Australia has been turned around by the quality and amenity of the project writes Adrian Greeman Cars, trucks and vans were taking to the new EastLink toll road in Melbourne with enthusiasm this July, pleased to try out its 39km route for time and cost savings. As well as the convenience of the uncongested route, drivers were also able to view an extraordinary multi-shaded perspective of transparent green and orange noise wall panels, burnt earth-coloured retai

Australia's GDP could see a major increase if traffic bottlenecks in big cities were to be removed, and the government is addressing this as a matter of urgency A modern road system is a must in Australia where it is estimated that the removal of traffic bottlenecks could potentially raise the country's GDP by 0.8%. According to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), which made the prediction, infrastructure bottlenecks (particularly in cities, which account for over 70% of the country'

Predictions of impending doom for Australia's roads infrastructure have given the nation's governments and roads stakeholders the fright they needed to collaborate on roads policy. If the latest initiatives Australia is putting in place do produce the full extent of the roads reform required, there will be some lessons there for the whole world Whether through pride or stubbornness, or a combination of both, each state and territory of Australia has always liked to do things its own way. To some extent and

Creating safer highways using low-cost, multi-disciplinary approaches to improve road safety has won 3rd Prize for the NSW centre for Road Safety in the 2007 IRF Road Safety Awards The Pacific Highway, a busy 700km interstate freight corridor from Sydney to the Queensland state border, and the Princes highway, a 430km stretch from Sydney to the Victoria state border, are important highway links in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, and both suffered high accident and fatality records. The Roads and Traffic A

Anticipating new trends, IRF is organising a panel discussion on this promising and fast-growing market during the 2nd International Roads & Environment Conference Signing the declaration on Energy, Security and Climate Change in Hokkaido, Japan, during the last G8 meeting, 17 leaders of the world's major economies have underlined the potential of appropriate market mechanisms when looking for global solutions in the fight against climate change. Emissions' trading is one of the options and certainly the in

Leading the change, IRF organises its 2nd Conference on Roads & Environment in Geneva, Switzerland on 10-11 November 2008 An opinion poll in the UK at the end of June showed that more people think their government should first try to tackle environmental issues before trying to tackle global economic problems. Two-thirds of people were even in favour of green taxes, either now or when economic conditions improve. The environment remains high on the agenda in most countries, including in those where public o

Timely maintenance using proven cost-effective methods can extend the life of a highway by many years as Patrick smith reports Highways are expensive assets to construct, and the wear and tear of modern traffic means that regular maintenance will delay costly repairs or in extreme cases reconstruction. There are a number of methods of carrying out such maintenance, and these include the use of slurry seals and micro-surfacing, which are cold mixed asphalt which is a mixture of graded aggregate, asphalt emul

Competition is increasing in the earthmoving sectors, and for some companies market share is improving The wheeled loader market is becoming more competitive, with a number of firms now challenging the leading players, Caterpillar, Komatsu and Volvo. In other earthmoving product sectors such as excavators, companies such as Case, Doosan, Hyundai, JCB, Liebherr and Volvo are becoming more aggressive in terms of sales and are capturing market share. Case is gearing up its operations in Western Europe, Eastern

Via Nordica, the road technology conference of the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) has changed from the traditional Nordic event to become more international The conference, held every four years, rotates between the five countries, and the 2008 event, held in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, was a clear demonstration of the international trend. An accompanying exhibition attracted more than 70 companies and organisations from 14 countries. Pär-Håkan Appel, the secretary g

The UK's world-renowned TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) is celebrating its 75th birthday this year, and the objective of its work has not changed In 1938 Richard Stradling, director, wrote that "the objective of all the research work at RRL [now TRL] is to accumulate that body of scientific knowledge which is an essential factor in the economical and efficient construction and maintenance of our roads. Practical application of the results must be the aim throughout." While TRL's remit today is far more

The EU funded SILENCE project maps the transport causes and possible solutions for reducing noise, reports Alan Peterson With Europe's ever-increasing population growth, the issue of noise for its 100 million citizens is becoming a pressing problem. Over 25% are exposed to critical transport-related noise, according to research by the EU funded SILENCE project, which reported its findings in Germany in May. The purpose of SILENCE is to develop an integrated methodology and technology for the improved contro

Research is paramount in the development of better roads and safety. In a new series, Eurofile looks at the work and programmes of organisations dedicated to that end. In this issue: The German Federal Research Institute (BASt) The aims of BASt (an arm of the Federal Ministry of Transport) are to improve the cost-effectiveness of building and maintaining federal trunk roads, to increase the safety of road transport, to reduce the environmental impact produced by road traffic and construction and to improve