Features

The alternatives to diesel fuel as a power source continue to grow as firms move to cut emissions - Mike Woof writes. Only the most myopic could have failed to notice that times are changing in terms of engine technology. In the on-highway automotive sector as well as for the off-highway construction machine segment, manufacturers are looking to lower tailpipe emissions. Similar technologies have been employed in both on-highway and off-highway sectors, although those solutions have been adapted to better

Debate continues over the use increased recycled asphalt for road surfaces - David Smith, development director at UK contractor FM Conway urges more cross-sector work to prove the case for a higher recycled asphalt content

Safety on the New Silk Graduates of the IRF Fellowship Program have contributed to a landmark study produced by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) aimed at minimising the socio-economic costs of road accidents in Kazakhstan. Asia’s infrastructure push offers opportunities to minimise road crashes, which cost many developing countries 2-5% of GDP each year. To help set priorities that address connectivity and safety, this study analysed 13,000km of highways, or 13.4% of the Kazakhstan

Techniques can help in preventing cracks in underlying layers from penetrating to new surface layers - *Farzad Tooryani. For road repairs involving milling off worn asphalt surface layers before repaving, the use of crack sealing is a crucial task. This can help to prevent full reflection of existing cracks from underneath layers into the new wearing course. Once the milling work is complete, locating existing cracks is a crucial task for the site supervisor. Efficient routing equipment that is easy to hand

The steering group of the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety met on 8 September at the FIA offices in Paris. Susanna Zammataro - IRF executive director and member of the advisory board to the FIA HLP – was part of the group that met up to reflect on the progress achieved thus far and to discuss the work plan of the HLP for the upcoming year. Discussions touched upon included the ongoing progress and establishment of the UN Global Road Safety Fund as well as the role of the panel in building support

IRF Geneva is collaborating with Shell India to improve road safety in the Hazira Port Area in India. The Hazira port area is an industrial area that is home to large companies such as Shell, Reliance Petrochemicals, Essar Steel, Larsen and Toubro, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). This area is also the location for a port operated by Adani, and this port is one of the most important ports in India for the handling of containers. The area also supplies almost 80% of the total demand for gas in India

“With two months to the WRM 2017, I invite you to this global event which promises to be an excellent forum to hobnob with senior professionals in the industry and forge promising associations,” Kiran K Kapila, IRF chairman. This global event scheduled to be held in Delhi, India on November 14-17, 2017 is shaping up as a high profile event with confirmation of the participation of senior professionals from the road and mobility sectors of a number of countries. These include Abu Dhabi, Australia, Bangladesh

New developments in tunnelling technologies offer contractors greater efficiencies when constructing new bores. Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are widely being used in major projects such as the Brenner Base Tunnel in the Austrian Alps. Full face TBMs are highly sophisticated machines featuring a rotating drilling head, which removes the material, and, depending on the type of construction, secures the excavated tunnel with shotcrete, rock bolts and wire mesh or prefabricated segments of reinforced concrete.

Concrete producer CEMEX is playing a key role in the construction of one of Poland’s main highway projects. The new S7 highway link will connect the Baltic coast to cities such as Warsaw, Kraków, and the Slovakian border region. In all over 400,000m3 of concrete is being supplied by CEMEX for the highway, with the material being used to build civil structures such as flyovers and bridges as well as drainage.

Benninghoven plant owned by Breisach-based Johann Joos Tief- und Straßenbauunternehmung is 40 years old but now features new technology, increasing its range of capabilities. To meet demands for the use of RAP, the plant has been reconfigured with the latest technology from Benninghoven. This new addition to the plant will allow its facility as a Recycling Priority Plant (RPP). The plant upgrade features a Benninghoven BA 4000 system with a capacity of up to 320tonnes/hour.