Features

A landmark tunnelling project is commencing in New Zealand - Kristina Smith reports. New Zealand is preparing to embark on its biggest transport project ever. In August it announced that it had selected its preferred bidder for the NZ$1.4 billion Waterview Connection in Auckland, 5km of new motorway connecting highways to the North and South of the city.

THE RECENT CONEXPO-CON/AGG exhibition has seen the launch of a wealth of new machine control technologies - Mike Woof reports A fast pace of technological development in the machine control sector is seeing new innovations come to market at regular intervals. The developments remain focussed on the three main technology suppliers to this market, Leica Geosystems, Topcon and Trimble, offereng a combination of systems using machine control based on GPS, total station, sonic units and industrial inertial gu

Highway construction work zones are dangerous places, and anything that can improve safety is welcomed as Patrick Smith reports. The safe and efficient flow of traffic through work zones is a major concern to transportation officials, industry, the public, businesses, and commercial motor carriers. This is the view of the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which has developed the Highway Work Zone Safety Program to reduce the fatalities and injurious crashes in work zones, and to enhance traffic oper

Trimble has developed an array of smart solutions for GPS machine control applications, which can now be installed on a wide variety of machines from different manufacturers. The company has long had a close relationship with Caterpillar but can also install units on machines from a range of manufacturers including Case, John Deere, Komatsu, Liebherr, Roadtec and Volvo. The firm's range has developed beyond just the GPS hardware though and includes sophisticated software, which can be loaded onto a hand-hel

Long reach excavators now dominate the demolition sector - Mike Woof reports

The Kivikko industrial area in Finland, which is owned by the City of Helsinki, has expanded gradually over the years and it has expanded again with the new stabilised area now about 3.5hectares. The ALLU equipment and system was used to stabilise Kivikko for the first time in 2001, and the latest job started in June 2010 with the stabilisation work completed by mid-December 2010. [The ALLU Stabilisation System is a Finnish invention that provides a fast, cost-effective and environmental-friendly working

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.

Concrete overlays have a long history and proven success in the state of Iowa. Mitchell and Worth counties in north central Iowa have led the way. In the past three years, they have put down approximately 241km of 102mm concrete overlay. Concrete Foundations Inc. (CFI), based out of Hiawatha, Iowa, has slipformed almost 80km of the counties' overlays, including 45km this paving season near the town of Osage. CFI has slipformed most of the overlays with its GOMACO two-track GP-2600 paver. This season, the co

Demand for concrete slipforming techniques is strong in several key expanding markets

Safety barriers provide an invaluable service for all road users, Mike Woof reports The safety barrier market is a key one for the highway sector, with systems providing valuable protection for all categories of road users. The importance of passive protective devices such as safety barriers can often be overlooked by the road user but is well-understood by highway designers. Redirecting an errant vehicle back into the roadway and preventing it from crossing into traffic flowing in the other direction or fr

The mini and midi excavator sector continues to squeeze more out of less, with some innovative engineering solutions being applied to zero- and short-tailswing models - Geoff Ashcroft investigates. It is a vicious circle - customers seek smaller, tighter, ever more compact excavators, leaving manufacturers with the challenges of squeezing greater levels of technology into what is all too often an even smaller machine.

Road stabilisers play an important role for road recycling, with new machines coming to market - Mike Woof writes The reclaimer/stabiliser is becoming a much more important machine in roadbuilding applications now that the construction market is increasing its use of road recycling. The reclaimer/stabiliser used to be a niche machine offered by specialist manufacturers such as CMI, which was a pioneer of the concept. However in recent years this type of machine has become an important construction tool,

Cornwall's Saltash Tunnel on the A38 trunk road is a crucial link between the county, and the neighbouring county of Devon, and is used by 38,000 motorists per day. Opened in 1988, the 410m long road tunnel in south-west England, is a single bore with three traffic lanes, and is part of the tidal flow system across the three-lane Tamar Bridge. The central lane has a speed limit of 30mph (48km/hour) and operates as a reversible lane to cope with holiday and rush hour traffic.

High performance backhoe loaders from Hidromek can compete with leading brands on performance - Mike Woof reports

Asphalt testing is performed for a variety of reasons by a variety of companies. Patrick Smith reports Road safety is in the interest of everyone and today it is also an important target shared by the majority of the companies involved in road design and construction. The growing attention paid to this value has had a remarkable effect on the material testing field, encouraged by an increasing market demand for testing solutions as well as by the new technical requirements established by international st