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Figures now available from the International Road Traffic Accident Database (IRTAD) highlight the risk of travelling by road in some countries. Not all countries compile accurate data from police sources and in many, a high percentage of road traffic crashes go unreported to the authorities. But the data from nations that do compile such information highlights counties where road risks are high and action needs to be taken.

An end to a thorny issue is close at hand concerning who will fund construction of a border customs plaza on the US side of a planned bridge linking Canada and the United States. US President Barack Obama’s US$4-trillion budget did not set aside any money for the plaza for a second consecutive year, further irritating Canadian officials who are overseeing construction of the bridge. It appears that the Canadian government might end up footing the entire bill, according to a report in Toronto’s Globe a

Strabag subsidiary Züblin will carry out the contract for Construction Section 16, Contract Section 4, of the urban A 100 Autobahn in German capital Berlin. The package of works was awarded by the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment. This follows the award for Contract Section 2/3, which in 2014 also went to Züblin. The contract for the new section between km 21+815 and km 22+465 is worth around €44 million.

A novel approach to road maintenance is being seen in the central African country of Gabon. Some €2.36 million ($2.71 million) in technical assistance is being funded through the European Union, with work being carried out by an international consortium, which includes Louis Berger. Through this contract Louis Berger will train around 20 Gabon-based small- and medium-sized businesses, providing knowledge and capabilities needed to maintain and monitor the country’s roads long term. The contract, part of Ga

A huge programme of works is planned for New Moscow. This is aimed at adding extra capacity. The plan calls for the building or reconstruction of over 120km of roads within the next four years. About 600km of roads will be built in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky (New Moscow) administrative districts by 2035. Most of the new roads will be built with four lanes, allowing two in either direction. The Central Ring Road is a priority project. A road between the Kommunarka village and the Yuzhnoe Butovo district

A new tunnel project is planned for Poland. The project will improve traffic links for the town of Swinoujscie. Italian firm Technital has won the tender process to handle hydro-geological work as well as the design of the tunnel. This portion should be complete by the end of 2015 and the construction work can then follow after.

A new highway project is planned for Colombia, which will be designed and constructed under a PPP concession. The Colombian Government awarded the project to Grupo Odinsa. This will be the country’s second PPP highway project and is expected to cost in the region of US$513 million to construct. The complete 325km project includes building a ring road in Villavicencio, as well as works between Villavicencio-Acacias, Villavicencio-Apiay and between Puerto Gaitan-Puente Arimena. Colombia’s National Infrastruct

Road fatalities increased in the UK during 2014, compared with 2013. The latest official figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show there were 1,730 deaths on British roads by the year ending in September in 2014, a gain of 1% over the same period for 2013. Worse still, the total killed or seriously injured (KSI) total climbed 4% to 24,360 and child casualties rose 3% to 2,060. Cyclist deaths and serious injuries are up 8% to 3,500. For the year ending September 2014, there were 192,910 reported r

US construction software provider Bentley Systems has acquired UK-based C3global, a provider of web-based Amulet software for operational analytics for an undisclosed sum. Amulet is a data collection validation, analysis and modelling system used by many industries around the world to manage mission-critical activities. The system is used by organisations that generate large amounts of data, such as in the sectors of water and wastewater, oil and gas, energy production and transmission, retailing, commun

The chairman of the European Parliament’s transport committee wants an emphasis on road maintenance and finishing international connecting roads systems than on new grandiose highways. If national government’s fail to do this, as it’s their responsibility, then the European Union’s major cities can look forward to increasing gridlock in the coming decades. Congestion and maintenance are first and foremost the responsibility of member states and nobody wants to change this,” said Michael Cramer, chairm

A new coastal highway is being planned in India that will connect the north and south of Mumbai. The project is being planned jointly by the Maharashtra State Government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The US$1.38 billion Nariman Point-Kandivli road project will stretch some 36.5km. The work includes the need to reclaim some 110ha of land, for which a proposal by BMC has been approved by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority. The agreement requires that this area of land can on

Construction is on track for Serbia’s Nis-Dimitrovgrad motorway Corridor 10 project. The construction work of the Nis-Dimitrovgrad stretch is due for completion by the end of 2015. The whole Corridor 10 project should be ready by the end of 2016. The Greek construction firm Actor has the €160 million main contract for the project. Other firms inolved in the project include Czech company Subtera, Greek contractor Terna, Bulgarian firm Trace Group Holding and Spanish company Construcciones Rubau. The project

Romania’s National Company for Highways has selected four joint ventures to build the 56.5km Campia Turzii - Ogra-Targu Mures highway, costing around €268 million (US$303 million). Strabag of Austria and Straco of Romania will build the two sections, while Straco will join forces with Specialist Consulting and Total Road to build another section. Lemacons, Vega 93 and Arcada will build the Targu-Mures-Ungheni section, the last stretch. The four Campia Turzii to Ogra-Targu Mures highway is part of the A3

Both the 2015 World of Asphalt Show & Conference and AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo have achieved record-breaking exhibit space and exhibitor participation. The co-located AGG1 and World of Asphalt will be held March 17-19, 2015 at the Baltimore Convention Centre, in the scenic Inner Harbour area of Baltimore, in the northeast US state of Maryland. The shows target the business and professional-development needs of aggregates, asphalt, pavement maintenance and traffic safety industry professionals.

Columbia’s transport minister has said it will take nearly US$168 million and more than two years to finish the controversial La Linea tunnel. Natalia Abello Vives said the government has a “plan B” to finish the 8.65km tunnel, which, as World Highways reported in May, has less than a kilometre remaining to be constructed. It was originally scheduled to be open by last November. The La Linea tunnel project, or Segundo Centenario tunnel, crosses the central mountain range and forms part of the Bogota-B