News

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has revealed that a Transportation Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan worth US$474 million will help pay for construction of the replacement for the current Goethals Bridge that connects Elizabeth, New Jersey with Staten Island, New York. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which operates the bridge, estimates that more than $33 billion in regional goods passes across the bridge each year. An average of 74,000 vehicles/day cross t

Data from the US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that highway deaths increased to 33,561 in 2012, an increase of 1,082 over the figures for 2011.The official Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data reveals that the majority of the increase in deaths, some 72%, occurred in the first quarter of 2012. Most of those involved were motorcyclists and pedestrians. This newly released data marks the first increase in road related fatalities in the US

The board of Guangxi LiuGong Machinery has promoted Zeng Guang’an to the position of president of Guangxi LiuGong Group. Meanwhile, Zeng is still the vice chairman of LiuGong Machinery. Under the leadership of Zeng, LiuGong is now one of the fastest growing, global, full-line construction equipment companies in the world and was ranked as the 20th largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world.

The Serbian Government is considering a loan from China’s Export-Import Bank, which would pay for the construction of the E-763 highway. The bank looks set to give its approval for the €223 million loan, which would pay for 90% of the construction work for the E-763, or Obrenovac-Ljig, highway. The loan would be approved over a 20 year repayment period and a five year grace period at the fixed rate of 2.5%/year. Meanwhile tendering will open for completion works on Serbia’s Pirot-Dimitrovgrad highway unti

The European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC) is hopeful that coming elections will result in a political leadership keen to address European road safety. The ETSC has identified speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, infrastructure safety and the safety of vulnerable road users as priority areas for action during the mandate of the next European Parliament. Antonio Avenoso, ETSC executive director said, "Action in all of those areas carries significant potential to prevent deaths and

Studies for the proposed Brussels Ring Road will receive EU support. Co-financing worth some €1 million from the EU’s TEN-T Programme will help pay for a study to optimise the Brussels Ring Road and improve its traffic flow and safety. The Belgian authorities will pay the remaining €1 million for the study. The main aim of this study is to try and separate local and transit traffic, without extending the existing road infrastructure.

A senior figure at renowned German diesel engine and engine components manufacturing firm Deutz has been elected as chairwoman of kölnmetall, the prestigious Cologne employers’ association. Dr Margarete Haase, a Deutz board member for finances, personnel and investor relations, is the first woman to hold the highest honorary office within kölnmetall.

UK drivers using mobile phones will face a police crackdown, after it emerged that 575,000 were prosecuted for using a handset whilst driving or being distracted in some other way at the wheel. In 2012, 548 casualties occurred as a result of drivers talking on the phone, with 17 fatalities. Nearly a quarter of fatalities were due to drivers being distracted. The Association of Chief Police Officers' head of roads policing Suzette Davenport said that some motorists are placing themselves and others in dang

A consortium led by the European construction group Strabag has signed the €178 million contract to build the 10.4km long section of the R2 expressway between Pstruša and Kriván in Slovakia. The R2 expressway runs through the valley of the Slatina River in central Slovakia and links the cities of Pstruša and Kriván. “After years of restraint in public-sector expenditures, the Slovak construction industry is again beginning to recover. We are bidding for several large contracts that are currently in the t

Major Polish transport projects connected to the TEN-T transport network and the Connecting Europe programme are to receive €4 billion of European Union funding. The S3 road from Nowa Sol to Hradec Kralove is among the Polish TEN-T road project works benefiting from the new EU fund. As part of the Connecting Europe Scheme, the €4 billion EU investment will also cover works on two major border road schemes: the S69 road from Bielsko-Biala, and the S61 from Augustow.

Wiener Linien, a public transport operator in Vienna, Austria, is to carry out a research project in cooperation with SLR Engineering and the Austrian Institute of Technology aimed at stopping parked cars hindering public transport services. Around 4,000 wrongly parked cars are said to have caused delays of between five minutes and 40 minutes on bus and tram services in Vienna in 2012. The research project, which is to be funded by the transport ministry's IV2Splus intelligent traffic systems and service

The transport corridor created by the Transistmico project, linking the port of Coatzacoalcos (Veracruz) with Salina Cruz (Oaxaca) in Mexico, should be operational within three years if US$2 billion of investment is secured. Representatives from the API port authority in Coatzacoalcos said that the conditions to develop this scheme are ideal, whilst technical studies will be developed in the short term.

The International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD, an intergovernmental organisation for the transport sector with 54 member countries, is calling for applications for a new award. The Promising Transport Innovation Award will recognise an innovation with the potential to significantly improve the transport industry. The innovation can be based on technological change, operational change, organisational change or a combination of these.

The Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA) this week held its 16th and largest annual conference at Eastwood Hall in Nottingham, England. Under the title ‘Roadmarking 2013 Safety Through Innovation’, the event on 13-14 November included a host of presentations from leading transport and specific road marking industry figures based in the UK and Europe dealing with technological and practical innovations relating to road marking-led road safety. Jenny Moten, divisional director for Network Services at th