Concerns have been expressed in Austria by a highway firm over proposals to allow larger trucks

Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long. The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due
March 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long. The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator 4178 Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due to their size and weight. Vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians are thought to be at particular risk should such vehicles be introduced. The Austrian minister for transport, Doris Bures, is also against the introduction of gigaliners to the country. The possibility of these giant trucks being introduced has also been causing concern in a number of other European nations but it is of note that a leading highway operator in Austria should be against these vehicles. These concerns have been echoed by the International Union of Combined Rail and Road Transport Companies (UIRR) which has said its criticisms of the use of long trucks in the EU are on serious issues. The UIRR has sad that according to the Fraunhofer Institute the use of long trucks would lead to 10 billion tonne-kilometres/year being moved from rail to road. This would lead to an estimated increase of 1,000 accidents and boosting fatalities by 43/year.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Safer Roads by Design comes to Costa Rica
    November 14, 2012
    IRF’s itinerant cycle of training seminars aimed at helping countries eliminate needless deaths and meet their commitments to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety made a notable stop in San Jose, Costa Rica on September 12-14. Safer Roads by Design - Costa Rica was hosted by the National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models of the University of Costa Rica (Lanamme UCR), the country’s leading knowledge centre on road engineering, with additional support from the Inter-American Development Bank an
    Read More
  • Lightweight drain covers reduce risk of theft
    February 15, 2012
    With scrap metal prices soaring, some European countries are suffering from a spate of drain cover thefts.
    Read More
  • Lightweight drain covers reduce risk of theft
    March 2, 2012
    With scrap metal prices soaring, some European countries are suffering from a spate of drain cover thefts. Serious safety issues arise for road users of all categories as a result of drain cover theft, with utility companies and local councils being left with the additional burden of replacing stolen ductile ironwork. However Ultracrete, part of the Instarmac Group, has a solution in the shape of its recently launched coverTEC range of pedestrian and road composite manhole covers and frames. These lightweig
    Read More
  • Kenya’s high crash risk
    December 14, 2015
    Data from Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) shows that there is a particular risk of serious crashes on the capital’s bypasses. In the 11 month period from January-November, 1/7th of Nairobi’s road fatalities were on the three new bypass routes. There were 50 fatalities in 2014 on the three bypasses and for the January to November 2015 period, there have been 133 deaths. Pedestrians are at most risk, accounting for 60% of fatalities, with motorcyclists and car drivers accounting for 7%
    Read More

Highlighted Content