Products

The first European asset management framework package to improve decision-making, including cross-border asset management will be available in August 2018. The framework is being developed by AM4INFRA, a two-year Horizon 2020 project that is supported by the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) and ProRail, the Dutch national rail agency. H2020 is European Union Research and Innovation programme to boost the competitiveness and efficiencies of EU organisations. Funding for projects is nearly €80

Highways England has deployed an intelligent transport system that uses portable message signs to display real-time journey information from the National Traffic Operations Centre (NTOC). Mobile Visual Information Systems’s DATEX allows an average of 85,000 drivers daily on a 34km section of the A14 Cambridge-to-Huntingdon upgrade scheme to navigate roadworks. The scheme includes a new bypass, junction improvements, highway widening and creation of access road. The A14 Integrated Delivery Team, on behalf

UK-based Instarmac has broken into the North American market with the first use of its Manhole Installation System in Canada. Instarmac said the installation was carried out in conjunction with the Region of Peel council, near the city of Toronto. It was done quickly with minimal disruption to motorists and in temperatures above 35ºC. The Manhole Installation System has been independently tested and approved by the UK’s Highways Authority Product Approval Scheme, said Instarmac, a manufacturer and

The A75 Gretna Green-to-Stranraer road is the main route through Scotland to the ferry port servicing Northern Ireland. With over 1.5m vehicles, including over 200,000 heavy goods vehicles, using the road each year, Transport Scotland commissioned Clearview Intelligence to conduct speed surveys at 12 locations between Gretna and Stranraer. Speed limits differ according to vehicle type, such as passenger cars, vans and heavy goods vehicles. The surveys highlighted a recurring problem with the 85th percentile

Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure has awarded Siemens UK a long-term traffic signal equipment management deal across more than 1,200 sites. It includes 950 Safer Routes to School signs, as well as a network of ANPR cameras and other Vehicle Activated Signs and rising bollards. Siemens said that the four-year deal is one of the largest of its kind that it has won as the main contractor. The principal objectives of the contract are to maintain a high level of equipment availability.

UK contractor A-one+ maintenance operatives in England’s southern counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey are now protected by a new vehicle-fitted crash cushion. The Blade - manufactured by Dutch company Verdegro Blade - is designed to absorb impacts including those by large heavy vehicles that have increased bumper heights. A-one+ said that the Blade is the only crash cushion that has been tested to US MASH crash testing standards, the most demanding in the world. The cushion, when deployed on a vehicle,

UK contractor A-one+ maintenance operatives in England’s southern counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey are now protected by a new vehicle-fitted crash cushion. The Blade - manufactured by Dutch company Verdegro Blade - is designed to absorb impacts including those by large heavy vehicles that have increased bumper heights. A-one+ said that the Blade is the only crash cushion that has been tested to US MASH crash testing standards, the most demanding in the world. The cushion, when deployed on a vehicle,

Mobile BarrierMobile Barriers has developed a crane with a hook-and-bucket setup for the company’s Mobile Barrier MBT-1. The crane-and-bucket combination is positioned on its own 3m removeable wall section and provides a 9.15m reach and a capacity of 3900kg at base and 680kg at 9.15m. The unit can be operated from the ground or bucket via wireless controls. The bucket can be rotated out of the way or removed when not in use. Physical Stop points ensure that the crane and bucket do not encroach on live lanes

Colas’s Yellow Project has been developed with Aximum Electronic Products - a Colas Group Company - and software experts Foxstream. The system uses thermal imaging and video analytics to detect and classify approaching vehicles into “threat categories”. It identifies those that pose the greatest collision risk with a highway works vehicle or nearby workers. The thermal camera is mounted at height on the rear of a works or emergency vehicle and performs in both dark conditions and full sunlight. It does not

What the developers claim is the world’s first “Autonomous Impact Protection Vehicle” (AIPV) has been used live onsite in the US state of Colorado. The introduction of autonomous technology to an impact protection vehicle removes the driver from a potentially dangerous situation should the impact be sufficient to cause injuries or death. The vehicle is a joint US-UK project. It was developed in the US by Micro Systems Incorporated – a division of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions – and Royal Truck and

A Canadian firm is using road recycling equipment from Italian supplier FAE to help keep roads in good condition. The firm, Rural Municipality Wilton, specialises in the maintenance of 700km of rural road links made of dirt and gravel. The work can be challenging, particularly as the weather is extremely cold in winter and very hot in summer. The equipment has worked well in this tough environment however. The firm selected two of FAE’s MTH models with water spray systems for the work as the units allow the

Roadtec’s innovative CIR Additive System can be used in the cold-in-place recycling of asphalt pavement. This is a useful technique for the repair and rehabilitation of asphalt-paved roads. The system is used to transfer, measure, and inject either emulsion or foamed asphalt to the cutter housing of the milling machine. The additive is then blended with the milled material and transferred for paving. Roadtec says that its cold-in-place recycling (CIR) equipment makes it possible to repair damage to a