News

Volvo’s F-series articulated dump trucks with full suspension can be specified with the company’s On Board Weighing (OBW) system, which won Gold in the Civil Engineering Equipment category of the prestigious Intermat 2012 Innovation Awards. The OBW cleverly monitors weight from pressure sensors in the ADT’s suspension system, to give payload information. The fully automatic system logs all transported loads.When used with Volvo’s CareTrack telematics system OBW can be accessed remotely, revealing total tran

The new generation JS crawler excavators from JCB are said to deliver increased performance along with reduced running costs. The JS220, JS260 and JS360 are all powered by Isuzu diesels that meet the Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB emissions requirements with reduced fuel consumption and increased torque rise. For developing markets, there is also a Tier 2 compliant version of the JS220 powered by a JCB 448 Dieselmax engine with a similar output to the 129kW Isuzu diesel in the Tier 4 Interim/Stage IIIB model. Th

The new ZRM 6014 road marking retroreflectometer from Zehntner is said to incorporate five innovations in one go: telescope handle and wheels as standard, colour touch display, camera, level meter and compass.

Danish company DELTA, a leading supplier of retroreflectometers for road markings and road signs, will launch its LTL-M mobile retroreflectometer at Traffex in Birmingham, UK.

Dynapac says that its new fifth generation CA single drum vibratory rollers, the CA5000, CA6000 and CA6500, offer performance upgrades over other machines. These machines have transverse-mounted engines that improve serviceability as well as optimised amplitude to boost compaction performance. A novel Active Bouncing Control is said to prevent damage to the machines as well over-compaction. High comfort cabs, good manoeuvrability and reduced noise levels and fuel consumption all help to make these machines

A study sponsored by the American Glass Bead Manufacturers' Association reveals that "a growing number of imported glass bead products for highway markings exhibit high concentrations of heavy metals, including arsenic and lead."

Powered by the six-cylinder Scania DC13 Tier 2 diesel engine with a gross power output of 368 kW (500 HP) at 2,100 rpm, the new Doosan DA40 articulated dump truck is said by the company to offer 10% more engine power than the previous MT41 model. The South Korean firm also says that the machine’s gross torque of 2,373Nm at 1,300 rpm, a 22% increase on the MT41, is the highest in the ADT market.Contributing to an overall 8% reduction in fuel consumption on the MT41 is the new ZF transmission offering eight f

The 5700C-Max unit from Power Curbers has now been used on a tricky shoulder widening job in New South Wales, Australia. The machine carried out the job close to Robertson in the Southern Highlands, about 1.5 hours drive to the south of Sydney. The job required the construction of a 200m long section of barrier, built to the requirements of the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA). The contractor hand-formed the concrete shoulder as it was about 3m wide at the start and narrowed down to 1m at the end.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) in Ireland has announced it will expand its journey time system by expanding deployment of ANPR cameras from 80 to 126, allowing vehicles to be tracked between two points to calculate the flow and speed of traffic.

In Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England, some residents are reported to be so fed-up of waiting for traffic lines to be painted on roads by the local county council that they are threatening to do it themselves. Staffordshire County Council highways bosses say they can only take on four new traffic measure projects a year and have a waiting list stretching to 2028. Media outlets in the county report that the local authority currently has more than 70 requests from all over Stafford borough

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.

Caterpillar is introducing a revised line-up of 20-24 tonne E Series crawler excavators at Intermat 2012. The 320E, 323E and the reduced radius 320E RR adopt the EU Stage IIIB Cat C6.6 ACERTTM engine, providing reduced emissions and fuel consumption savings of up to 11% compared to other D Series models. A wider range of cab seating, including heating and cooling options, comes with the new E Series crawler excavators. Time delay lighting, additional safety handrails and improved serviceability are also sai

Federal Signal Technologies (FSTech) has been awarded a three-year back office system and operations contract by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT).

The second tube of the Pfänder Tunnel, Bregenz, Austria, where the new main tunnel has been excavated using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), is being constructed by Alpine BeMo Tunnelling. Tubbings have been installed as the inner tunnel lining, and as part of concreting for the inner shell, the FQ 1 crosscut, suitable for vehicles, is being constructed using a tunnel formwork carriage designed and supplied by PERI.