News

Montreal’s Champlain Bridge superstructure deal signed with Canam-Bridge
May 22, 2015
Canada-based Canam-Bridge has been chosen to fabricate the superstructure for the Champlain bridge project in Montreal as well as to supply steel. Marc Dutil, chief executive of Canam, a specialist bridge superstructure fabricator, expects at least 45,000tonnes of steel will be required for the 3.4km bridge that will span the St. Lawrence River which leads to the Great Lakes of North America. The contract is expected to be completed after a formal deal is reached between the SNC-Lavalin consortium con
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Chinese Government providing incentives for Beijing electric car customers
May 22, 2015
The Chinese Government is adding initial incentives to customers for electric vehicles (EVs) in capital Beijing. Car buyers in the Chinese capital typically face high costs as well as restrictions on when their vehicles can be used. Cars with odd or even numbers on their licence plates can currently only be used on alternate days. However the city’s authorities are providing an additional incentive for customers to purchase EVs instead of conventional combustion engine vehicles by relaxing these constraints
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Jakarta’s jams top traffic congestion toll
May 22, 2015
A survey by oil firm Castrol reveals that Indonesia’s capital Jakarta suffers the worst traffic delays of any city in the world. Turkey’s commercial centre Istanbul comes second in the congestion study, with Mexico City in third place. Castrol’s Magnatec Stop-Start Index says that Jakarta’s drivers suffer some 33,240 stop-starts/year, equivalent to 27.22% of their total travel time being stationary.
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Honduras inter-ocean highway nearing completion
May 22, 2015
Work is close to completion on a new inter-ocean highway in Honduras. This 392km road runs between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans and is at present around 80% complete. Called the Canal Seco, this new road should be finished in the first quarter of 2017. Work still needs to be carried out on a 100km long section featuring four lanes. This portion of the project is costing some US$300 million, with funding being provided by CABEI.
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Cost increase for road tunnel in Stuttgart, Germany
May 22, 2015
Construction costs are increasing for a key road tunnel in the German city of Stuttgart. The work on the Rosenstein road tunnel looks set to be some €40 million more expensive than was initially expected. As a result the 1.8km tunnel will now come with a price tag of over €270 million. The tunnel should be ready for traffic in 2020. Funding for the project is being provided jointly, with the German Government and the federal state of Baden-Württemberg providing some €112 million of the financing required.
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Moba and Volz Consulting establish technology JV
May 22, 2015
MOBA and Volz Consulting are setting up a new joint venture aimed at process optimisation and documentation in asphalt road construction. The partners say that the core of the new business is the formation of a software system for construction process optimisation. This has been developed by Volz Consulting and is called BauProzessOptimierung ("construction process optimisation") – or BPO ASPHALT for short.
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Faster than a speeding cow – your local bus maybe?
May 22, 2015
A methane-powered bus has set a speed record for a regular city bus of nearly 124km/h at a test track in the UK, according to media reports. The bus, from the southern city of Reading, was converted to run on compressed methane from cow manure and was painted black and white like a Friesian cow. Mechanics removed the bus’s engine governor that restricted the vehicle’s speed to 90km/h. The bus then broke the record on the banked high-speed circuit at Millbrook Proving Ground, near the city of Bedford.
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Tappen Zee Bridge box seat is the best in the house
May 21, 2015
Bridge construction has sometimes been called theatre, with many acts and players building up to a finale. There is no better place to watch good theatre than from a prestigious box seat. This is especially true for the new Tappen Zee Bridge that is taking shape across the Hudson River in the US state of New York. In this case the box seat is just that – a box that sits high atop the old bridge, and it is occupied by a pair of peregrine falcons and their three babies. The family can be seen on-line thanks
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Plans in hand for new Indonesian tolled highway projects
May 20, 2015
Plans are moving forward in Indonesia for the development of a major new tolled highway project. Jakarta Tollroad Development is at present working on purchasing the land required for a key section of the toll road. The new route will run from Sunter in North Jakarta to Semanan in West Jakarta. The plans call for the project to be completed before the Asian Games in 2018. The first phase of the project is for the 20.23km Semanan-Sunter section and the 9.44km long Sunter-Pulogebang stretch. The second phase
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Hamburg highway expansion programme
May 20, 2015
A €1.6 billion project is in hand in Germany to widen the A7 Autobahn between Bordesholm and Hamburg's tunnel Elbtunnel. Funding for the project is being provided jointly by the German Government, the city of Hamburg, the province of Schleswig-Holstein and the German engineering firm Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau (DEGES). The work should be complete by 2018. The project involves increasing the number of traffic lanes in the Schleswig-Holstein section from four to six and in Hamburg from six
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STRABAG wins Romanian highway project
May 20, 2015
Austrian contractor STRABAG is heading the consortium carrying out a highway project in Romania. The project is to build the country’s A3 highway connecting Ungheni and Ogra. Work on this 10km section of highway will take 12 months to complete. STRABAG holds the majority stake in consortium handling the €70 million contract.
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New Vietnam highway will cut travel times
May 20, 2015
Vietnam’s new Ha Long-Van Don highway will cut travel times between Hanoi and the economic zone in Van Don and Ha Long city. The new 60km highway will also cut traffic on National Road 18 and the project is costing some US$650.4 million. The construction work will require 29 months to complete and the project is being handled under the build-operate-transfer model. The Phuong Thanh and Cong Thanh transport construction investment firms will carry out the work.
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New Moroccan motorways planned
May 20, 2015
Four new motorways are to be built in Morocco following approval being given passed by the country’s government. The projects will cost a total of US$3.22 billion in all. The new routes include a motorway between Safi, Marrakesh and Béni-Mellal over a distance of 356-422km and costing from $1.35-1.56 billion. MAD 13bn and MAD 15bn. The other major connection is a motorway between Agadir and Guelmin, set to cost anywhere from $727 million- $1.77 billion, depending on the route and technical constraints, with
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Police call fortougher alcohol limits for UK drivers
May 20, 2015
The British Police Federation calling for the blood alcohol limit to be lowered. This call has also been backed by the campaigning road safety charity, Brake as well as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA). Evidence from Scotland where the drink driving limit was lowered during 2014 has shown a reduction in drink driving offences. This move would bring the UK into line with other European countries with regard to alcohol limits by reducing the level from the current 80mg/100ml of blood
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New Myanmar bridge planned
May 20, 2015
A major new bridge project is planned for Myanmar.The US$168 million bridge will span the Yangon River connecting the town of Dala with the city of Yangon. Work on the Yangon-Dala Overbridge looks set to commence in 2015 and should take five years to complete.
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