Transportation

SKZ, with scientific committee support from Cemagref and the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI), will host the 3rd International Symposium on Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GBR-C 2k10) 15-16 September 2010 at the Fortress Marienberg in Würzburg, Germany. Technical sessions will address shear and mechanical behaviour of GCLs, chemical resistance of GCLs, testing of GCLs under unsaturated conditions, behaviour of GCLs in landfill covers (case studies), regulations, new concepts and developments in the use of GCLs, and GCLs for hydraulic and construction applications. Visit the conference's website for the latest. Learn more here.;

NAUE GmbH and Co. KG, international manufacturers of high-quality geosynthetics such as Secugrid® geogrids and Bentofix® geosynthetic clay liners, invites engineers, contractors, regulators and other professionals involved with geosynthetics to take a break--and take on NAUE's Gridator. Introducing: GoalGrid. GoalGrid is a free game available online (www.naue.com), and it comes just in time for the world's biggest single sport event: the FIFA football World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Learn more and play.

SpectraPave Software is an interactive design/analysis tool that incorporates the state-of-practice design methodologies for both flexible pavements and unpaved roads. The program features both design and cost analysis tools for evaluating and quantifying the benefits of Tensar® TriAx (TX) Geogrid for unpaved applications such as haul roads and working surfaces. SpectraPave4 Software, released in February 2010, incorporates the unpaved haul road design methodology developed by Dr. J.P. Giroud and Dr. Jie Han and has been calibrated and validated for the new TriAx Geogrid product. Learn more and download a copy. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced that nearly $80 million in grants have been delivered to states as part of President Obama's historic high-speed and intercity passenger rail program. These grants will go toward the development of a brand new Recovery Act funded high-speed rail system in Florida as well as critical upgrades to existing passenger rail service throughout the country.

In Decatur County, Georgia officials are putting into action a plan to correct the county's worst unpaved roads through the utilization of geotextile separators. The county plans to purchase geotextile fabric, which crews will then install, after which six to eight inches of graded aggregate base course will be placed. Roller compaction will be used. Geotextiles have been shown to significantly increase unpaved road stability. Learn more here.;

Jennifer Hildebrand will lead the Internatinoal Erosion Control Association's (IECA) next free webinar event, "Construction Inspection Techniques That Really Work." This webinar will look at inspection programs that really do work! The focus will be both from the perspective of the inspector for a regulatory agency and the inspector who may be inspecting their own sites. It is worth 1 PDH. Learn more here.;

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) has extended its abstract submittal deadline until Wednesday, 26 May 2010 at 12:00 pm (Mountain) for Environmental Connection 2011 (EC11). The event is the annual conference and expo of IECA. Combining quality education with a world-class expo, EC11 is the premier gathering place for the erosion and sediment control community, drawing attendees from over 20 countries and 150 exhibitors to Orlando, Florida, 20-23 February 2011. Any abstracts submitted after the deadline will moved to EC12 consideration. Learn more here.;

The International Railway Safety Conference (IRSC) is a forum that brings together rail safety professionals from around the globe in order to exchange information and provide experiences and lessons for improving rail safety and is exclusively devoted to rail safety issues. IRSC 2010--the 20th annual meeting--will be held in Hong Kong 3-8 October 2010 under the theme "Challenges in Sustaining Railway Safety." Online registration is open. An early bird discount is available through May 31. Learn more here.;

The Textile Engineering Department of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (India) has announced that it will soon upgrade its infrastructure in order to incorporate the processing of geosynthetic fibre into its capabilities. This will enable the department to add geosynthetics to its areas of study. The announcement comes within the department's week-long exploration of geosynthetic potential. Learn more here.;

ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has honored Samuel R. Allen, vice president of TRI/Environmental Inc. in Austin, Texas, with the ASTM Award of Merit and honorary title of fellow. The Award of Merit is the highest ASTM honor for distinguished service and outstanding participation in committee activities. Read more about this well-deserved award.

The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) has announced that Dennis J. Hall, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, FAIA, SCIP, will assume presidency of the organization on July 1. Hall is managing principal of Hall Architects, Inc. and chairman of HALL Building Information Group, LLC. Hall joined CSI in 1984. During the past 25 years, he has served in numerous CSI leadership positions at the local, regional and national levels. Currently, he is chair of the Project Resource Manual Update Task Team, the CSI forum moderator for Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Construction Documents, and a member of the UniFormat Task Team.

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) is calling for submittals for Environmental Connection 2011 (EC11), annual conference and expo of IECA. Combining quality education with a world-class expo, EC11 is the premier gathering place for the erosion and sediment control community, drawing attendees from over 20 countries and 150 exhibitors to Orlando, Florida, 20-23 February 2011. The deadline to submit an abstract for the conference's consideration is 20 May 2010.

The deadline to submit presentation abstracts to Sally Humphreys (sh@amiplastics.com) for Waterproof Membranes 2010 is: 28 May 2010. The conference is Applied Market Information's (AMI) 4th international conference on Waterproof Membranes and will be held 30 November - 2 December 2010 at the Maritim Hotel in Cologne, Germany. A welcome reception and registration will be held on the first evening, and the two-day technical program follows. Learn more.

TenCate Geosynthetics has published a glossary of common geosynthetics terms and definitions on its website. Learn more here.;

TenCate Geosynthetics introduces in North America the new roadway reinforcement product TenCate Mirafi® RS580i, a highly engineered geosynthetic product for base reinforcement and subgrade stabilization. This new, game changing, high-strength geosynthetic provides excellent reinforcement and base course confinement integrated with high water flow and soil retention capabilities.

Approximately 40 people attended the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) short course "Constructing with Fabricated Geomembranes" held in Orlando, Florida on 14 May 2010. Attendees included Rodrigo Arevalo of Geomembranas Ltda in Bogota, Colombia and Marcel Niederhauser, Leister's (Switzerland) new Business Development Manager for North America. Richard Tedder of Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) welcomed attendees to the state. Read more in Ian Peggs' write up.

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) held its second short course in Orlando, Florida at the Royal Plaza Hotel on the Walt Disney World Resort. The short course was organized by the University of Florida TREEO Center (www.treeo.ufl.edu) and attended by 41 people. The excellent presentations and discussions made the course a great success. The course covered the design, specification, testing, manufacturing, fabrication, installation, inspection, welding, and field testing of fabricated geomembranes in a variety of applications. Read more.

Thrace-LINQ promotes Daniel Selander to Market Development Manager, Geosynthetics. "This newly created position fits perfectly with our geographic expansion plans," says Davis Taylor, the Company's Vice President of Operations. Selander is an industry veteran with over 16 years of technical sales and quality experience.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell testified in favor of a national infrastructure bank before a House committee Thursday. "It is obvious that existing revenue sources and methods are inadequate to address our vast infrastructure needs," said Rendell. The national infrastructure bank would help finance transportation and public-works projects across the U.S. Learn more here.;

The value of construction starts so far this year has risen 11% compared with the same period in 2009, according to numbers released by Reed Construction Data. Excluding residential contracts, construction starts amount to $82.7 billion. April starts were up 6.6% versus March. Learn more here.;

In an interview in the Independent (a newspaper in the United Kingdom), 29-year-old Karthick Kanchi Goverthanam talks about the study of technical textiles and their role in the world today. He says, "My first degree, in textiles technology, was at a university in southern India. In 2005, I came to England and did an MSc in advanced materials at Bolton, specialising in medical textiles, and geotextiles, which are the things used in roads and embankments." Read more. Learn more here.;

North American Green (NAG) has a strong employee team. And it just got stronger. Mr. Cody Huff stood out from a large pool of very experienced candidates vying for a new regional sales position and was ultimately selected to support our growing distribution network as well as end-users of NAG's expanding line of erosion control products. In the press release, the company writes, "Mr. Huff is responsible for the strategic and tactical initiatives of the organization in his region, including forecasting market trends and conditions to deliver the best possible products, sales support and opportunities to our customers." Read more.

The global technical textiles industry has been affected by numerous upward swings in raw material costs, and this has led to many manufacturers announcing necessary price increases. Denmark-based Fibertex A/S is the latest. On the company's corporate website, Jørgen Bech Madsen, CEO, Fibertex Industrial Nonwovens writes: "In recent months the global price level of our main raw materials has been increasing significantly. This applies both for polypropylene as well as for polyester. It is the general expectation that these raw materials will remain at a high level in the future. We are no longer able to absorb these increased costs. In order to compensate partly for these increases Fibertex are increasing prices by up to 15% effect for orders with delivery from 1 June 2010."

Denmark-based Fibertex A/S -- a manufacturer of needlepunched and spunmelt nonwovens for the industrial, technical and hygiene industry -- recently selected a needling line from France-based NSC nonwovens for its subsidiary Fibertex South Africa Pty Ltd. -- a joint venture (JV) recently established with South Africa-based South African Fibre Yarn Rugs Pty Ltd. The JV company will produce needlepunched nonwovens including geotextiles for roads and nonwovens for industrial applications such as furniture, bedding, filtration and automotives. The NSC line includes the ProDyn® control system with card, crosslapper, drafter and needlelooms. Fibertex also has purchased a ProDyn line featuring the IsoProDyn® system, as well as needleloom equipment for its plant in the Czech Republic. The ProDyn line is the fifth such line Fibertex has purchased. Learn more here.;

The International Railway Safety Conference (IRSC) is a forum that brings together rail safety professionals from around the globe in order to exchange information and provide experiences and lessons for improving rail safety and is exclusively devoted to rail safety issues. IRSC 2010--the 20th annual meeting--will be held in Hong Kong 3-8 October 2010 under the theme "Challenges in Sustaining Railway Safety." Online registration has opened. An early bird discount is available through May 31. Learn more here.;