Features

As powerful fabrics, geosynthetics and geotextiles have a wide range of applications in many civil engineering applications including roads and airfields. Geosynthetics specialist Tensar is introducing a radical new product that it thinks will revolutionise the construction industry. According to the company, its new product represents the "biggest advance in ground stabilisation technology for 25 years. Six years in development, it is said to offer major improvements in aggregate confinement and soil stabi

New ownership offers greater overseas potential for Barrier Systems

Further development of SCT's wooden and steel barrier systems has led them to meet a wider array of applications. The company has had particular success with its wooden barrier range in areas of natural beauty and hopes to capitalise on this as the wider range comes to market.

Barrier Systems says that its new tensioned barrier offers high energy absorbing capabilities in head-on collisions. The company says that this is because the X-Tension technology is a tension-based solution rather than compression-based. The new range delivers good performance in these applications, as energy is absorbed with resistance at the impact head rather than being transferred down the rail as occurs with other systems. Even high-angle (15° during testing) impacts on the nose resulted in the vehicl

Moves are being made to develop barrier protection for motorcyclists. Many public highway authorities take little note of motorcycle riders at present, considering them a small minority and assuming that any additional safety measures will be costly and provide little gain in saving lives. In spite of this narrow minded attitude, some manufacturers have recognised that niche opportunities exist to improve safety levels for powered two wheeler users through developing innovative new products. Italian barrier

The IRF presented 12 Global Road Achievement Awards (GRAA), the 2008 Student Essay Competition winner, and three Lifetime Distinguished Service Awards at its Annual Awards Banquet at The Mayflower Hotel, Washington DC on 12 January.

Russian construction firm Kamdorstroy has carried out a successful demonstration of recycling techniques to over 60 highway officials, academics and contractors from all over the CIS states. The demonstration was carried out in co-operation with the Russian Federal Highway and Tatarstan Highway authorities and involved milling, recycling and overlaying a road with hot mix asphalt. The work was carried out on a 7.5m wide roadway with 3.8m wide lanes (with an overlap) using machinery and techniques new to Rus

Improved surface quality and improved machine design are key trends in the asphalt paving sector, Mike Woof reports There is a big difference in asphalt paving techniques in North America and Europe. In North America, the need to construct long stretches of highway quickly resulted in wide pavers offering high throughput capacity, with compaction equipment then being used to achieve the required density of the various courses. In Europe's highway construction projects, distances tend to be shorter and contr

Managing utility works effectively is important, given that digging up roads and then patching them can dramatically cut the life of a road surface. New software tools make this process easier to manage effectively and Bentley Systems is extending its Expert Designer V8i package to include water, gas, and communications infrastructure, in addition to electric utilities. This allows utility firms and engineering contractors using Expert Designer V8i to boost the efficiency of utility network design projects.

Arrangements are proceeding full-speed ahead for what promises to be an exceptional IRF World Meeting from 25-28 May in Lisbon, Portugal. An outstanding technical programme has been finalised, the last remaining exhibition stands are being snapped up and an exhilarating social programme is in place.