News

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has cancelled the results of a tender for construction and maintenance of the fifth section of the central ring road in the Moscow. The FAS made the announcement following an investigation based on a complaint from Stroygazconsulting, one of Russia’s largest infrastructure construction companies. The 23-year contract was awarded to the Koltsevaya Magistral. Stroygazconsulting complained that the bids for the contract, worth nearly US$752 million, were not evaluate

In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, drivers of electric vehicles will be offered a three-year car insurance subsidy of nearly US$1,620. The city’s Energy Saving and New Energy Car Promotion office announced the offer amid a raft of benefits for electric vehicle drivers. There will be free parking of up to two hours in the city for users of electric vehicles. Plans also are being made by the city to offer electric vehicle owners one month free access eah year to a normal car for long-distance travel

The number of bicycle trips in Ile-de-France, Paris, doubled to 650,000 trips between 2004 and 2014, according to the IAU, a local urbanisation think tank and policy adviser. Bicycles are used mainly for commuting to work and the average trip is 2km. In Paris, where bicycles were almost non-existent 15 years ago, they now make up 3% of trips in the city and 8% of work-home trips. But half of trips of less than 2km are still made in cars, the IAU noted. Despite an increase in bicycle usage, the number of

In Zimbabwe work is being planned for the road connecting the country’s second city Bulawayo with Tsholotsho. This route is of importance as it connects through to the Hwange Game Reserve and also to Victoria Falls, both of which are key tourist destinations within Zimbabwe. The route also connects with Zimbabwe’s border crossing to neighbouring Zambia at Victoria Falls. So far only 50km of this 112km route has been upgraded but the new plans will see the entire route benefiting from major improvements. Wor

Portugal is planning a series of road repair and renovation works starting in 2015. The Portuguese road agency Estradas de Portugal (EP), plans to invest €436 million between 2015 and 2019. This will be invested in renovating the basic road infrastructure for local and regional routes. The plan calls for 250 bridges and viaducts to be upgraded, with 120 improvements on local roads. The programme of work also includes 100 sites where road safety will be improved.

Cause for concern has been identified in French capital Paris, with research suggesting that as much as a third of roads in the city may be contaminated with asbestos. Studies have shown that 39% of road surfaces in Paris are contaminated by two types of asbestos, actinolite and chrysotile. The latter was incorporated into road materials used in the past. The specific danger to public health from the use of asbestos in the roads has not yet been revealed. But asbestos is known to have been widely used in co

A series of road projects is now being funded in Paraguay due to financing being provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications is scheduling new road projects in the eastern part of the country during the first half of 2015. The US$105 million IADB loan will pay for 400kms of new roads and 2km of new bridges, with much of the work being carried out in rural areas.

In India plans are in hand to construct a new tunnel ring road for Mumbai. The project is expected to cost as much as US$14.4 billion. However the Indian Government is keen to reduce the construction costs considerably. The bypass tunnel would be connected with the planned highway linking to Ahmedabad. The aim of the bypass tunnel project would be to help reduce congestion in the city’s historic centre, by diverting through traffic.

The project to construct Malaysia’s West Coast Expressway deal has been awarded to a major contractor. Under the terms of the deal, the project will be carried out by the IJM-Kumpulan Europlus joint venture. The five year contract is expected to cost in the region of US$1.44 billion to carry out. When complete the new expressway will cut journey times between Taiping and Banting.

Traffic congestion and the cost of running a car have been pushing Chinese car manufacturers to think small, especially for electric vehicles. Electric scooter and motorcycle have long been popular and in the past several years more and more small electric cars are appearing on crowded urban roads One popular three-wheel electric vehicle has a large retractable bubble top, making it look like a futuristic car from a low-budget 1950s Hollywood movie. It may have a top speed of only 30kph, as the BBC report

The Highways Agency in the UK has appointed a joint venture between Mott MacDonald and Grontmij to analyse various options for upgrades to the A27 Chichester Bypass. The aim of this project is to improve traffic flow and relieve congestion. The bypass is a 5km dual carriageway with five roundabouts and one signal control junction. It provides a key east-west transport link along the south coast of England. This connects Brighton, Worthing, Chichester, Portsmouth, Southampton. It currently suffers from heavy

In New Zealand a new safety drive is being handled by the local authorities of Tauranga, Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland. These are among the four cities in New Zealand that have teamed up with the New Zealand Transport Agency for kiwiRAP to establish a road risk mapping scheme. Under the programme, areas that require attention to address high risk concerns will be identified. According to Colin Brodie, Chief Safety Advisor of New Zealand Transport Agency, the urban kiwiRAP programme will use traffic and

Preliminary data from Germany suggests that there will be little road safety improvement for 2014, compared with the previous year. This follows decreases in crash fatalities in the last two years. According to estimates of the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), key data available for the months from January to September 2014 shows that there will be approximately 3,350 traffic crash fatalities for this year. The figure is broadly similar as for 2013, when there were 3,339 road deaths. This means

A major highway widening and upgrade project is being carried out in the Netherlands in a bid to improve traffic flow on some of Europe’s busiest routes. SAAone is carrying out the work for the A1-A6 motorway project for Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management. A key component of the project is adding new lanes to the A1 and A6 highways.

In Mexico plans are proceeding on schedule for a new section of the Mexico City-Puebla motorway. The highway will be completed as planned, between July and August 2016, according to the Transport and Communications body SCT. The new section of highway will measure 13.3km long and feature four lanes.