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One of the most competitive segments of the off-highway equipment sector, it is no surprise that earthmoving machinery is seeing a wide array of new models coming to market - Mike Woof writes Competition is tough in the market for earthmoving equipment. Manufacturers from Europe, the US, Japan, Korea and China are all vying for increased market share across the globe. Firms are developing new models and widening product lines, with a wide range of excavator, wheeled loader, dozer, grader and soil compact

Technology supplied by Cemex has helped repave taxiways at the International Sangster Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The firm supplied a concrete plant, a paver, and other supplies from Mexico to guarantee the durability and quality of the airport’s facilities.

Slipform pavers from Wirtgen have played important roles for the Beijing New International Airport project. The four Wirtgen slipform pavers have been used for the construction of the apron area for the new Chinese airport.

A new bridge crossing for the Lena River is being proposed in Russia. The bridge will provide a connection between Yakutsk and Nizhny Bestyakh. The bridge is expected to cost upwards of US$900 million to build, with the project likely to be offered under a concession package. A number of consortia comprising both Russian and international firms have already shown interest in the project.

Equipment from German firm Bauer has been used to help upgrade facilities at Jakarta Airport in Indonesia. The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is located in Cengkareng, Banten, a suburb of the Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, is one of the largest airports in Asia. Handling around 63 million passengers in 2017 and over 447,000 flight movements/year, the aircraft handling facilities were becoming too crowded. The answer was to construct a new connecting taxiway linking the existing runways at the eas

A new bridge connecting Slovakia with Hungary is under construction at present. Costing €117 million, the bridge spans the River Danube connecting Komarno in Slovakia with Komarom in Hungary. The project has been delayed but the bridge should be ready for traffic in 2020. Funding for the project is being provided by the EU and is being directed through the Slovakian Government and the Hungarian Government.

In Argentina a new loan facility for road projects is now being provided by the Banco de Inversion y Comercio Exterior (BICE). The loan facility will be worth US$100 million and will be offered for projects being handled under the PPP model and with distances of 2,500km or more. This is expected to speed up plans for various PPP projects, with some $6 billion for road concessions planned for the next four years. A number other funding sources are being developed but are yet to be finalised.

Moscow suffers the worst congestion of any city in Europe, with drivers spending an average 56% of their time being stuck in traffic. Istanbul meanwhile comes close behind, with drivers spending an additional 53% of their time being stuck in traffic. Bucharest suffers the third worst traffic congestion in Europe, with Saint Petersburg in the fourth spot. The data has been gathered by the TomTom Traffic Index, which has collated information on 403 cities around the world. By the end of April 2019, Istanbul h

The tender process for Brazil’s 364/365 highway will commence in mid-September 2019. The 437km route connects Jatai, Ituiutaba and Uberlandia in Minas Gerais State. The concession deal will be for 30 years and investment in the road is expected to be worth US$1.22 billion. The tender will be awarded to the firm offering the lowest toll rate. The national land transport agency, ANTT, is overseeing the tender process.

Lafarge Cement – part of Aggregate Industries – has launched Lafarge Endure SR; a high performance, low carbon, CEM II blend cement. While traditional CEM I blends use virgin clinker to produce the finished cement, Lafarge Endure SR blends Portland fly ash (PFA) with clinker, which results in a lower embodied CO2, as well as improved plastic and hardened properties when used in concrete. Another benefit of using Lafarge Endure SR over a CEM I blend is its suitability for all ground types. Sulphates in

The tender process will restart in 2019 for Slovakia’s Visnové Tunnel project. The tunnel forms part of the D1 highway. Work was being carried out on the tunnel and highway stretch of the D1 connecting Lietavska, Lucka, Visnové and Dubna Skala by the contractors Salini Impregilo and Duha. However following a dispute with the Slovak national motorway company NDS, these two firms are no longer working on the project. Some stretches of the highway are near complete already but the tunnel still requires some wo

A massive programme of transport infrastructure development is planned by Indonesia’s current administration. A budget of US$27.38 billion has been set for this work in 2019, an increase of 1% from the budget set for 2018. Work will be carried out to improve and/or upgrade 2,007km of roads and 27,067km of bridges under the plans. The programme also calls for the construction of four near airports and improvements to 415km of rail lines, as well as other infrastructure improvements.

Mercedes-Benz says that it’s low-entry Econic truck has been awarded the maximum safety-specific five-star Direct Vision rating by Transport for London. Utilities contractor Ferns Surfacing has just invested in a pair of 32tonne Mercedes-Benz Econic trucks decked out as tipper-grabs and is operating them on surface reinstatement and resurfacing duties in and around London. Ferns has 10 depots across south-east England and East Anglia, north-east of London. With its deep, panoramic windscreen and full-heig

Mercedes-Benz says that it’s low-entry Econic truck has been awarded the maximum safety-specific five-star Direct Vision rating by Transport for London. Utilities contractor Ferns Surfacing has just invested in a pair of 32tonne Mercedes-Benz Econic trucks decked out as tipper-grabs and is operating them on surface reinstatement and resurfacing duties in and around London. Ferns has 10 depots across south-east England and East Anglia, north-east of London. With its deep, panoramic windscreen and full-heig

The UK's Saltash Tunnel is undergoing a major US$1.53 million upgrade to the incident detection system to provide quicker detection of vehicle fires and other incidents. The scheme will see close to 5,000m of cable installed inside the 410m tunnel on the A38 in the county of Cornwall in England. Overall design of the new system and integrated control systems are from PDS – Paul Ducker Systems – and includes smoke detectors from UK firm SICK Sensor Intelligence and SmartVision fiber-optic temperature sensi

Nyx completes snowshed lighting in Canada Parks Canada has installed the Tunnel Lighting Addressable Control System (TLACS) from Nyx Hemera in the five snowsheds of Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park. Over the past five years, Parks Canada has been upgrading infrastructure in Rogers Pass - 1,330m above sea level - including the installation of LED luminaires and an intelligent lighting control system. A snowshed, similar to a tunnel, is a concrete cover built over a road to protect traffic from avalan

Kapsch TrafficCom Australia will deliver the tolling roadside system for the West Gate Tunnel Project under construction in Melbourne, Australia. Kapsch TrafficCom Australia was contracted by CPB Contractors John Holland Joint Venture to deliver the technology. It will be based upon the company’s single gantry multilane free-flow platform and next-generation stereoscopic vision technology for both vehicle detection and classification as well as automatic number plate recognition. “Almost 20 years ago Kaps

The Freeway Tunnel Ventilation On-Demand System for Melbourne’s EastLink project picked up the top Industry Award category at the recent 9th ITS Australia National Awards Traditional tunnel ventilation systems are inefficient. Fans operate at fixed speed in manual mode or with individual fans programmed to switch on and off at preset times to ensure zero portal emissions with all emissions dispersed via ventilation stacks. EastLink’s new ventilation on demand – VoD - system matches variable speed fan

Civil and electrical engineering firm McCann said it has added to its portfolio of LED lighting replacement projects with a contract in North Lincolnshire, England. McCann started the two-year contract in October 2017 but finished it around 10 months early, the company said. Installation centred on the town of Scunthorpe and the surrounding area to replace and upgrade 19,000 lanterns that include energy-saving LED technology. McCann said that the installation of these lanterns will produce a significant a

A new proposal has been put forward for Los Angeles suggesting that a congestion charging scheme be introduced to help tackle the city’s transport woes. According to the CEO of the Los Angeles Metro system, the revenue from the congestion charge for drivers could then be used to allow people to use the city’s transit system for free. Many US cities depend heavily on road transport for carrying goods and commuting. However as many inhabitants and visitors to Los Angeles can attest, the sprawling city and it