Month: October 2020

LafargeHolcim joins the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) “Business Ambition for 1.5°C,” becoming the first global building materials company to sign the pledge with intermediate targets for 2030, validated by SBTi. This commitment builds on LafargeHolcim’s leadership in green construction with cutting-edge solutions such as ECOPact, its green concrete, and Susteno, its leading circular cement.  

In its 2030 goals, LafargeHolcim is further lowering its target for CO₂ intensity in cement to 475kg net CO₂ per ton of cementitious material (net CO2/t.cem.). Europe is on track to become the first region to reach this net zero ambition, building on its CHF 160 million investment roadmap launched last year.  

Going one step further, LafargeHolcim is partnering with SBTi to develop a roadmap for aligning climate targets to a 1.5°C future in the cement sector, pushing the boundaries of green construction.  

Jan Jenisch, CEO: “I believe in building a world that works for people and the planet. That’s why we are reinventing how the world builds today to make it greener with low-carbon and circular solutions. I am very excited to be working with SBTi, taking a rigorous science-based approach to shape our net zero roadmap and accelerating our efforts to substantially lower our CO₂ footprint. I will not stop pushing the boundaries to lead the way in green construction.”  

Magali Anderson, Chief Sustainability Officer: “As the world’s largest cement producer, we have a key role to play in addressing today’s climate crisis. On our way to becoming a net zero company, we are not only part of the solution, we are committed to supporting our customers in their CO₂-reduction ambitions. No company can tackle today’s climate challenge alone, that’s why we are partnering for impact.”  

Alberto Carrillo, Director, Science Based Targets at CDP, one of the Science Based Targets initiative partners: “We at SBTi are delighted that LafargeHolcim has joined the group of over 290 industry leaders committed to a 1.5°C future. As the largest player in one of the most carbon-intensive industries, LafargeHolcim’s leadership demonstrates that a net zero economy is within reach.”  

In addition to this pledge to reduce scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, LafargeHolcim will expand its actions across its value chain to include scope 3 emissions. With this holistic approach LafargeHolcim will reduce its transportation and fuel-related emissions by 20%.  

On its net zero journey LafargeHolcim will accelerate circular construction by increasing the use of recycled materials in its products and processes while recovering materials at the end of their life cycle. In 2019 alone, LafargeHolcim recycled 48 million tons of waste making it a world leader in waste solutions, contributing to cleaner cities while preserving earth’s finite resources.  

The company will use the coming decade to develop and deploy advanced technologies, preparing the next step of its net zero journey. This includes piloting over twenty Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) projects across Europe and North America.  

For more information on LafargeHolcim’s climate pledge, please see the detailed climate section on www.lafargeholcim.com.  

For more information on circular economy and other aspects of its sustainability strategy, see www.lafargeholcim.com/climate-energy.  

A new electronic tolling service will be implemented shortly on all of Greece’s toll roads, following the request of Greece’s Infrastructure Ministry for the implementation of interoperability among all eight (8) Hellastron members, who are responsible for operating all the toll roads of the country. 

Interoperability will ensure greatly enhanced user experience and will also help Greece’s effort to minimise the COVID-19 pandemic health risk.   

The new service, expected to be fully functional by early November, will ensure interoperability between the participating toll Infrastructures, namely Attiki Odos, the Rio-Antirio Bridge, Egnatia Odos, Nea Odos, Moreas Motorway, Aegean Motorway, Olympia Odos, and Kentriki Odos, which together make up the 2,133.2 kilometres of the Hellastron network, covering most of mainland Greece. 

Interoperability is a huge improvement in convenience for all current and future users equipped with transponders distributed by all Greek Toll Road Operators and Concessionaires. 

With more than 67 million ETC transactions per year (out of 233 million in the HELLASTRON Network, accounting for 8,7% of the total transactions), interoperability is a key factor for the convenience of the 750 thousand drivers who have an account and make use of  transponders. 

Drivers will be able to drive through the electronic toll lanes of all toll stations across Greece irrespective of the issuer of their transponder.    

Transponder accounts and invoices will be handled by the issuer of the tag and “refilling” of the account can be done very easily electronically, avoiding any need of physical presence in the facilities of the issuer. 

Mr. Stavros Stavris, HELLASTRON's Chairman stated: “Interoperability is not only a promise kept by Hellastron, which has vowed to continuously improve user driving experience on Greece’s recently completed toll road network, but it is also a clear motivation for increased transponder penetration, further shoring up benefits to users and toll road operators in the years to come.” 

Mr. Bill Halkias, President of the IRF and representative of HELLASTRON in IRF and IBTTA and former President of ASECAP commented: “Greece’s new service is a state-of-the-art technological achievement, effected by the HELLASTRON members’ extremely competent scientific and technical professionals, who made it happen in a truly short time indeed". 

The Austrian traffic technology corporation SWARCO keeps its stakeholders posted on latest innovations in times where personal encounters at exhibitions and conferences are not really possibly. In their monthly 30-minute Innovation Talks, broadcast live from the SWARCO TRAFFIC WORLD in Wattens / Tyrol, the company features innovative topics in road safety and intelligent traffic management in expert interviews. The most recent Innovation Talks deal with the communication between road infrastructure and vehicles and resulting benefits for road safety and quality of life. 

The machine vision of vehicles and the role of road markings in the age of connected and automated driving was featured in the talk with Harald Mosböck, Vice President for Region Europe and MEA of SWARCO’s Road Marking Systems Division. The expert informed about the developments in road marking performance in Europe and America in order to keep the stripings readable by cameras and LiDAR. He explained a scientific test carried out jointly with automotive lighting specialist ZKW in the world’s largest wind and climate tunnel in Vienna and stressed the role of retroreflection and contrast for machine readability. The interview can be watched under www.swarco.com/innovation-talks. 

On 7 October at 5 p.m. Andreas Schmid will be the interview partner of communication manager Richard Neumann. „When the infrastructure talks to the vehicles“ is the title to treat the topic of C-ITS (Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems) with examples from SWARCO’s practice. Accident prevention through roadworks warning messages via the vehicle’s dashboard, priority for emergency services at intersections, and the standards for data transmission and information exchange will be addressed. You are invited to register for this webinar via the SWARCO website. There you will also find more information about previous talks that can be watched when time suits you. 

Around the world, advances in technology combined with the drive to improve air quality and lower carbon emissions are leading to disruptive change in the movement of passengers and freight. There is also a strong desire to ‘come back better’ as we recover from the COVID-19 crisis that has swept many countries around the globe. 

The move to a low-emission vehicle future will require new thinking and infrastructure, from innovative policies to support uptake to new charging infrastructure and network upgrades. The decisions we make today need to be future proofed against the most likely of these trends, avoiding the risk of poor investment decisions and stranded assets. 

Egis won the Private Sector Innovation Award for its virtual reality training programme, developed as part of the A 63 motorway operation in France, with the support of the Concessionaire Atlandes. 

Each year, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA)*, the worldwide association for the owners and operators of toll facilities, presents the Toll Excellence Awards to highlight the very best projects, innovations, and solutions from the international tolling industry. IBTTA announced that Egis has been awarded a 2020 Toll Excellence Award for Private Sector Innovation for its Virtual Reality Training Program designed to eliminate risk and danger during onsite emergency instruction. 

“Egis is the winner of this year’s Toll Excellence Award for Private Sector Innovation for developing an innovative Virtual Reality (VR) Training program to teach and certify safety patrollers to perform incident management for toll bridges, tunnels, and highways while completely eliminating the risk and danger of on-site emergency instruction to trainers and students,” said Samuel Johnson, Interim CEO of the Transportation Corridor Agencies and President of IBTTA.  “Egis, along with six other 2020 Toll Excellence Award winners, continues to implement systems and strategies that are revolutionizing transportation throughout the globe and helping lead the way in creating transportation systems to keep our customers moving safely and efficiently.”  

Richard Lengrand, General Manager of Egis Exploitation Aquitaine said, “Egis' primary concern is the safety of our customers and our staff. We are honored to receive the IBTTA Toll Excellence Award. It is a notable achievement for Egis’ global teams.” 

Focus on the virtual reality training programme developed by Egis 

The job of patroller is extremely dangerous. In France, an average of 10 patroller vehicles are hit per month while the patrollers are securing an event, leading to 16 injured patrollers and one death. And, training in this environment is even more dangerous. On-site training is also very time-consuming and expensive; and the ability to replicate many different event types and conditions is severely limited. Egis Virtual Reality Training has changed all of that. 

Egis, with the support of the Concessionaire Atlandes, and in collaboration with Immersive Factory (a start-up specializing in the design of virtual training), has developed a series of 15-minute learning modules to train motorway patrollers using virtual reality technology on the A63 Motorway, a 105-kilometer toll road between Bordeaux, France, and Spain. 

The Virtual Reality Training is a total immersion in the working environment. The surrounding conditions such as traffic noise, vehicle speed and weather events are reproduced in very realistic detail – allowing the student to experience a variety of real-world emergencies in real-time. 

With the new Virtual Reality Training, A63 patrollers can be safely trained and tested in motorway safety and callout procedures by simply donning a virtual reality headset and using the handheld controls. 

* IBTTA (International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association) is the worldwide association for the owners and operators of toll facilities and the businesses that serve tolling. Founded in 1932, IBTTA has members in 21 countries on six continents. Through advocacy, thought leadership and education, members are implementing state-of-the-art, innovative user-based transportation financing solutions to address the critical infrastructure challenges of the 21st Century. For more information, visit www.ibtta.org or Twitter @IBTTA or #TollRoads. 

Each year, IBTTA presents the Toll Excellence Awards to highlight the very best projects, innovations, and solutions from the international tolling industry.  The awards encourage the industry to share and celebrate new ideas and emerging practices in six categories: Administration and Finance; Customer Service and Marketing Outreach; Social Responsibility; Technology; Toll Operations, Engineering and Maintenance; and Private Sector Innovation. 

For more information, visit: www.egis-group.com/action/news/egis-received-2020-toll-excellence-award-international-bridge-tunnel-and-turnpike 

 

The multipurpose road laboratory for spatial data collection conducted the first field trips 

The mobile measuring system was developed by order of the Russian road research Institute. The requirements for the technical equipment of the mobile laboratory were formed based on the results of comparative tests in 2019. A specialized machine has got all necessary to create a digital model of highways with high accuracy. The model will be uploaded to the road Fund control system (a single digital database of all roads in the country). 

The work is carried out within the framework of the Federal project "system-wide measures for road development" of the national project "Safe and High-quality roads". The road laboratory includes a mobile laser system, a GPR system for subsurface sensing, video cameras, equipment for surface diagnostics, and a set of geodetic equipment. 

The universal road laboratory is currently used to build a digital model of Federal public roads. According to the survey results, almost 2 terabytes of field data have already been obtained. These are the results of mobile laser scanning, the results of georadar survey ("transparent" layers of road construction), data for assessing the technical condition of the road (measured longitudinal evenness and surface defects are detected). 

Then cameral processing is carried out. It includes calculating the exact trajectory of the road laboratory. The trajectory is necessary for forming a point cloud of laser scanning results (visually it looks like a digital double of the road, infrastructure, construction elements, etc.), as well as adding GPR profiles (radarograms of the road surface and roadbed) to the model. Spatial data binding is performed using networks of reference (satellite) stations. 

"Sections of the R-298 Kursk-Voronezh highway-the R-22 Kaspiy highway with a length of 150 kilometers and the R-193 Voronezh – Tambov highway with a length of 200 kilometers have already been surveyed. Point clouds were formed along the 56-kilometer segment of the first section. Structural lines have already been drowned," says ROSDORNII. 

A contractor is also being selected to supply two more road laboratories to create a digital road model. It is planned that the machines will start working by the beginning of next year. In 2021, as well as in 2022, work will continue on Federal highways, and the regional network is expected to start "digitizing" in 2023. 

For more information, visit ROSDORNII’s website: https://www.rosdornii.ru/news/649/ 

ARRB’s state-of-the-art laboratories have been busy underpinning research work, supporting state and local government needs and helping industry. A significant focus at present is the increased use of recycled materials in road making.  

Results from laboratory testing are helping development of new asphalt mixes, new sprayed seal binders, and assessing the performance of both marginal and innovative materials for which there are no existing specifications. The development of new materials guidelines and specifications that ARRB is currently undertaking would be impossible without the extensive testing regimes undertaken in the laboratories.  

Asphalts, binders and granular base materials incorporating crushed glass, crumb rubber, plastics, demolition wastes are all currently being examined using a wide range of performance related test processes. This is helping make informed decisions about use of recycled materials, and is affecting change in existing materials specifications.  

Laboratory services at ARRB are scalable and so, despite the impressive current and future testing works, the laboratories are still available to help you and to continue to be your independent National reference laboratories. 

View the full article on: 

https://www.arrb.com.au/news/testing-times-what-arrbs-labs-have-done-in-the-past-6-months 

 

PE “Roads of Serbia“ has initiated and developed the first in a line of educational campaigns for raising awarenessof drivers and increase of traffic safety – “3 Seconds, a Whole Life”.

By promoting the educational campaign “3 Seconds, a Whole Life”, the PE “Roads of Serbia” wishes to improve traffic safety.

Did you know?

- More than 500 fatalities in traffic accidents every year;

- More than 150 fatalities on the motorway in three years;

- More than 50% of traffic accidents are a consequence of abrupt braking and rear-end collisions;

- Every fourth accident happens due to an insufficient following distance.

Traffic safety is a subject which reminds us of its gravity only when a traffic accident happens and when everyone sees its consequences on the pavement.

The basic goal of the educational campaign is raising awareness regarding the problem of road deaths, i.e. bringing the attention of public to the importance and the possibility of increasing the level of traffic safety, as well as the reduction of the number of road deaths – education of the population.

The fulfillment of the basic goal of the educational campaign is raising the level of drivers’ awareness, which should contribute to:

✓ the reduction of vehicle speed,

✓ keeping a safe following distance,

✓ active observation of traffic flow conditions,

✓ not putting other drivers in danger.

The target group of the PE “Roads of Serbia” are drivers of all ages and socioeconomic groups. Those are primarily the drivers using the motorway almost daily, average (weekend) drivers, as well as professional drivers who use sections of the motorway every day or occasionally. They are the most important target group because they represent direct participants and most often are the cause of traffic accidents.

Led by the motto that road accidents can be prevented, the PE “Roads of Serbia” will systematically influence the level of traffic participants’ awareness.

For that purpose, an educational video and a radio spot have been prepared, as well as messages for VMS gantries along the motorway, posts on social networks, informational flyers and posters, stickers with the educational campaign visual in Serbian and English have already been placed on all toll booths where toll tickets are issued.

The video can be watched on our enterprise’s Internet presentation on the following link:

We have attached the photographs of VMS gantries along the motorways with toll collection, where messages and slogans in Serbian and English are delivered – Keep your distance and 3 Seconds, a Whole Life, on the following sections:

➢ Corridor 10, I A category state road no. 1, direction Belgrade – Niš

➢ Corridor 11, I A category state road no. 2, Miloš Veliki, direction Surčin - Preljina

We prepared flyers (in Serbian, English and Turkish) with the recognizable campaign message, information on traffic accidents and depictions of a safe following distance, used for informing traffic participants at toll stations and petrol stations.

At all toll stations in Serbia, on toll booths where toll tickets are issued, there are stickers in Serbian nad English containing the campaign visual “3 Seconds. a Whole Life“.

Important information on the Campaign, the video and the radio spot are aired in specialized shows on traffic safety, motoring…

Don’t forget – a safe following distance is a precondition for safe driving!

Be responsible to yourself and others – save a life!

„3 Seconds, a Whole Life” is the first in a line of educational campaigns, we are continuing with our efforts!

Learn more: https://www.putevi-srbije.rs/index.php/en/company-news/edukativna-kampanja-jp-putevi-srbije-3-sekunde-ceo-zivot

Committed to contributing to achieve a safer global road network, HAENNI Instruments launched a new campaign in the main social media channels. 

Aiming to raising awareness among authorities, truck drivers and transport companies managers of the importance of protecting roads by performing weight enforcement, HAENNI brings every week a new post with disquieting information about deteriorated roads and its consequences. 

Click on the icons to follow the campaign