From pavement design and earthwork to stormwater and asset management, transportation projects today require a wide range of expertise and technology. Following is a selection of recently released products for transportation system design and maintenance.

ACO Polymer Products’ complete ACO Road product line is featured in a new 88-page catalog. The publication, ACO Road—Technical Handbook and Product Catalog, covers drainage products specifically designed for roads and bridges. The catalog has three main sections, beginning with product selection criteria that help engineers and planners determine the correct hydraulics, application factors, loadings, safety, and other requirements. The second section covers ACO’s four main product lines, including TraffikDrain, HighwayDrain, CurbDrain, and BridgeDrain trench drain systems. The third section of the catalog presents technical support from ACO, including design services for trench hydraulics, grate hydraulics, run layout and parts scheduling, and pipe layout service and parts scheduling. A glossary of terms helps readers understand terminology used in the catalog.
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The Asphalt Institute published the 7th edition of MS-4 The Asphalt Handbook. The new publication has more than 770 pages showcasing advances in asphalt technology since the 1989 edition. MS-4 continues to offer chapters on types of asphalts, mix designs, mixing facilities, paving, compaction, surface treatments, recycling technologies, maintenance methods, rehabilitation, and structural design. New topics include Superpave asphalt binder and mix design, stone matrix asphalt, open-graded friction courses, quality control and acceptance, pavement management, and rehabilitation of concrete pavements with hot-mix asphalt.
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BASF Admixtures Systems says its Navitas 33 rheology-controlling admixture acts as a lubricant, improving response to vibration and ultimately enhancing consolidation, extrusion, and final surface appearance. Navitas 33 RCA technology lowers the yield stress, or force, required to initiate flow in the concrete, without necessarily affecting the viscosity. According to the company, when used in mainline concrete paving, curb and gutter, and median barriers, Navitas 33 can increase production of low-slump extruded concrete placements by more than 20 percent. Additional benefits include optimized mixes, lower costs, minimized edge slump, enhanced pavement riding surface, and increased concrete durability and service life.
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Carlson Software, Inc.’s Takeoff 2.0 (T2) for project estimating now includes Carlson Civil’s RoadNet. Built on the AutoCAD 2007 engine and Vista compatible, T2 offers 3-D simulation, streamlined digitizing, automated elevating, precision calculating of volumes and material quantities, and cut/fill color mapping. T2 users can estimate and report cut/fill, subgrade materials, topsoil, trenching, roads, and strata, and take plans from 2-D to 3-D. Inclusion of Carlson’s RoadNet gives land developers the ability to lay out a collection of intersecting roads, process them all together, and clean up all intersections and cul-de-sacs in 2-D and 3-D with a single click. For data prep, T2 gives users survey capabilities for layout, evaluation options to get the best design for the least cost, and the ability to create a 3-D model for machine control.
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Dow Epoxy, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, acquired POLY-CARB, Inc., and GNS Technologies. POLY-CARB provides epoxy products and systems used for bridge and parking structure restoration and waterproofing and pavement striping and delineation. GNS Technologies specializes in polymers such as epoxies, polyurethanes, and polyureas used for civil engineering, industrial maintenance, and steel structure coating applications. Request more information

EarthTec, a new company established by GeoStructures, provides design, supply, and turnkey construction of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) structures for grade separations and support of sound walls, bridge abutments, dams, and seawalls. EarthTec offers EarthTrac HA, which uses ribbed steel strip reinforcing strips, and two MSE systems incorporating geosynthetic straps for soil reinforcement—EarthTrac PET and EarthTrac Ultra. The polymer-based straps are durable in acidic or alkaline soils where steel reinforcements are susceptible to corrosion. The EarthTrac Ultra system was designed for use with highly alkaline backfill such as recycled concrete, which can helps designers, contractors, and owners achieve project environmental targets.
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Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging offers Leica ADE, a geospatial enterprise solution providing web-based and wireless location-based applications fully integrated with Oracle databases and application server technologies. Leica ADE operates in a disconnected and connected environment, allowing users to migrate to WiFi technology without redesigning or redeveloping data maintenance or reporting components. The Florida Turnpike Enterprise implemented the Leica ADE software suite to enhance its asset management solution, eliminating the need to post-process geospatial information. As one of the transportation industry’s first WiFi-enabled mobile asset management systems, Florida Turnpike employees can collect and readily access asset and geospatial information dynamically in the field.
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Maxwell Systems, Inc.’s Quest Earthwork 7.0 cut and fill program contains new features and enhancements, including incorporation of new trench features for enhanced viewing capabilities. Other new Quest Earthwork 7.0 features include Linear Foot takeoff for items such as pipe, fencing, and curbs, as well as Count Item takeoff capabilities for manholes, catch basins, and other items. The program also includes a new Trench Templates feature, which incorporates vertical, V-shape, T-shape, Y-shape, and more. Takeoff requires tracing over plans using a stylus pen, first for existing elevations and then for proposed elevations, to generate accurate cut and fill quantities. The program can also import AutoCAD files.
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According to Tensar International Corporation, its Spectra Roadway Improvement System and SpectraPave3 software can accelerate pavement designs by simplifying construction, decreasing material requirements and associated costs, and optimizing life-cycle costs. SpectraPave3 generates analyses for subgrade improvement and base course reinforcement, offering three distinct analysis modules that each quantifies the benefits of using Tensar BX Geogrid reinforcement. A new Advanced Base Course Reinforcement module quantifies the stiffness enhancement of a geogrid-reinforced base course and its ability to mitigate pavement rutting.
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Transpo Industries, Inc.’s BODAN Highway/Railroad Grade Crossing System comprises polymer concrete panels with greater than 14,000-psi compressive strength. The BODAN system’s bridge-design concept transfers axle loads of vehicles directly to the rails of the track. There are no permanent attachments of the modular panels to the cross ties, which eliminates stress on the crossing surface and allows easy access to perform routine track maintenance. According to the company, the polymer concrete panels are resistant to road salts and diesel fuel and incorporate a lifetime skid-resistant surface.
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William Frick & Company’s SmartMark RFID Tags have been tested successfully for applications in which they are buried in concrete. The new applications enable RFID tracking and identification for a wide variety of concrete products, including highway barriers, retaining walls, bridge components, and other pre-formed concrete items. The embedded SmartMark RFID tags allow tracking of different admixtures and regional formulas. They eliminate the need for hand-written and vulnerable paper tags. Engineers and highway personnel can quickly track inventory, identify different materials that look similar, and perform highway vulnerability assessments more accurately and easily.
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