News

Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) is this year said to be planning to invest US$500 million in the South American country’s roads. The figure is said to be part of a proposed infrastructure investment of $7.66 billion for the period 2013-2016. Among the 2014 road projects will be the estimated $84.46 million repair of Route 8 -72.9kms – put out to tender by the MOPC in December 2013. All bids must be submitted on 29 January 2014. Route number 9 -Transchaco- between Mariscal Est

Action across Europe has seen police crackdown heavily on drink driving offences during December 2013. Information from the Pan-European police body TISPOL shows that 1,141,058 roadside breath tests were carried out to check for alcohol use, with 15,305 showing positive. Police also checked drivers for drugs in the operation, and 2,133 offences were detected. The operation was organised by TISPOL in 31 European countries. TISPOL president Koen Ricour said, “These results show that too many people are still

A Portuguese contractor is now commencing work on a new highway in Venezuela. The US$4.76 billion project is being handled by contractor Teixeira Duarte. The highway work is for a new link from la Guaira to capital Caracas. The Caracas–La Guaira highway connects capital Caracas, to the port city of La Guaira, capital of Vargas state, as well as Simón Bolívar International Airport. The coastal link has had some technical issues and new sections have had to be constructed.

Two Chinese construction firms are keen to build Bulgaria’s Cherno More highway. The highway runs close to the country’s Black Sea Coast and will connect the cities of Varna and Burgas when it is complete. The project is just one of several in Central and Eastern Europe that will receive a portion of the €10 billion cooperation credit line proposed by China for the region. The 103km Cherno More highway will be one section of the Pan-European Corridor VIII and will connect with the Hemus highway at Varna and

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says it has provided strong support to emerging economies in 2013. Much of this investment has been into transportation infrastructure, which the EBRD sees as being crucial for development and to help emerge economies into growth. Total investments for the year across all of the regions where the EBRD is active amounted to €8.5 billion, according to preliminary estimates, compared with financing of €8.9 billion the previous year. These investments

New data shows a fall in road deaths in both Lithuania and Sweden. The official data reveals that 24 people were killed on Swedish roads in December 2013, according to preliminary figures from the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen). This compares with 26 killed in December 2012. Overall during 2013, 264 people were killed in road traffic crashes in Sweden, while 2,691 were seriously injured. This is the lowest number of fatalities on Swedish roads since 1944. Meanwhile 258 people were killed in r

Mobile retroreflectometers have taken a technologic step ahead with the launch of the LTL-M system. New patented technology improves measurement accuracy to a level so far only provided by handheld retroreflectometers and offers better coverage. The need for accurate data on the performance of pavement markings has never been greater as road authorities seek to provide a high safety level for increasingly congested roads. Furthermore, due to the ageing populations in many parts of the world, a growing n

The RIDERSCAN project is now launching its third and last survey targeting European motorcyclists. Focusing on new technologies and powered two wheelers, the survey will feed the RIDERSCAN report on Traffic Management, providing an opportunity for European riders to express their views on coming intelligent transport technologies. Efficient transportation has become critical for Europe to remain competitive globally. Technological development is often intended to provide people with more freedom and the ti

Developments in super-capacitors will see these replacing batteries in applications such as hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles. New generation super-capacitors are said to be more reliable, less costly, less affected by temperature variance and also safer. Super-capacitors have been recognised for their high power density, long lifetime and low internal resistance, and they can be constructed from commonly available, low cost materials. In the recently updated IDTechEx report "Supercapacitor/ Ultracap

Europe’s contractors’ association, the FIEC, has criticised the EU’s new public procurement package, describing it as a missed opportunity. “The EU institutions did not seize the opportunity to solve one of the most severe shortcomings of the existing public procurement directives,” said Ulrich Paetzold, FIEC director general. “I mean by that the identification and treatment of abnormally low tenders, which is a real curse in the construction sector.” Today’s adoption by the European Parliament of the thre

The Trimble Quantm alignment planning system allows road designers to reduce planning time and deliver projects with minimal environmental and social impact at a lower construction and operating cost. The system, on show at Conexpo 2014, analyses millions of alignment alternatives and returns a range of options to the planning team for consideration. When new data becomes available the Quantm system can quickly recalculate more alignment options.

Registration is now open for the 2014 Summit of the International Transport Forum at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Under the theme ‘Transport for a Changing World: Understanding Trends – Shaping Responses’, this year’s event will take place 21-23 May in Leipzig, Germany. The ITF Summit is the leading global forum for transport policy; it is also referred to as the ‘Davos of Transport’. In 2013, 1,000 participants from 80 countries attended, including transport ministers

Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles were up significantly in France in 2013 compared to 2012, reports Avere France. Electric utility vehicle sales were up 42% to 5,175 units, electric sales rose 50% year-on-year to 8,779 units, and there was a 60% rise in hybrid car sales to 46,785 units. In the latter segment, Toyota is still the leader with 27,536 vehicles sold thanks to the Yaris, Auris and Prius. In electric cars, the Zoé (Renault) is the leader with market share of around 63%, in front of the Leaf

Two Chinese provinces are investing a combined US$9.36 billion in transport infrastructure during 2014. Shaanxi province in northwest China plans to invest $5.79 billion (CNY 35 billion), enabling the upgrade of 5,000km of rural roads and the construction of around 1,110km of highway. The authorities will also strive to complete the Xianyang-Xunyi, Luofu-Weizhuang and Jiangzhang-Famensi highways in 2014, which will add about 160km of highway in Shaanxi province. Meanwhile in southwest China, the Yunnan pr