News

The French government is considering lowering the national speed limit from 130km/h to 120km/h on motorways and from 90km/h to 80km/h on roads. The move, being led by Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls, comes after the recent announcement of a drop in the number of deaths on roads in France during the first half of 2013.

According to a study conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) on 5,248 drivers from 2009 until 2012, the nation’s women drivers are angrier than men but experience fewer road deaths and crashes. Overall, 18% of the 13.3 million registered drivers in the country are categorised as ‘high-anger’ drivers.

FEHRL, the partnership organisation for national road research centres, has established a new road infrastructure innovation forum. This is intended as a focus for road innovations that can then be developed through FEHRL’s Infravation and related programmes. This portal is not for research proposals but is instead intended to aid in identifying the possible impact, benefits and time to delivery of innovations for road construction and maintenance as well as possible applications for other modes. The Infrav

The UK Government is pledging to invest heavily in new engine technologies. This strategy is intended to keep the UK as a technology leader in the field of engine developments, with a particular focus on the automotive sector. The plans are to develop new, low emission vehicles using innovative powertrain systems, such as plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. In all some €1.156 billion (£1 billion) has been pledged by the UK Government over the next 10 years for investment in research a

The city of Brussels is considering the introduction of a €3 (US$3.93)congestion zone charge – which could generate up to US$587.86 million (€450mn) a year.

Massive plans for infrastructure investment have been revealed in Peru. The country’s transportation and communications ministry, MTC, intends to invest some US$20 billion in infrastructure by 2016. Public private partnerships will be used to develop many of the planned projects. Transport infrastructure figures heavily in the plans, with spending on highways, the Chinchero-Cuzco airport and Callao’s Jorge Chávez airport, and additions to Lima’s metro network. One of the key road projects will be for the Lo

From 2014 the police in the UK will be able to use drug testing kits to check if drivers are under the influence while at the wheel. After consultation with medical experts, limits have been set for quantities of illegal and legal drugs that are permissible in the bloodstream while a driver is in control of a motor vehicle. Tests have already been carried out on different types of drug testing kits that use saliva samples to determine whether a person is under the influence. These kits have already been int

New data from Germany and Portugal reveals continued improvement in road safety, with a reduction in fatality levels for both countries. Final figures from the German Federal Statistics Office, Destatis, reveal a reduction in road related deaths for 2012. Some 3,600 people died on Germany’s roads in 2012, a 10.2% drop from the previous year. Meanwhile for the first six months of 2013, some 227 people were killed in vehicle crashes in Portugal, a drop of 18% compared with the previous year.

Balfour Beatty has demolished a farm access bridge over the M8 motorway between junctions 4 and 5 to enable the completion of slip roads for the new Heartlands junction in West Lothian, Scotland. The demolition of Cowhill Bridge is a major milestone for Ecosse Regeneration in the construction of Junction 4a. Using ten excavators equipped with hydraulic breakers and munching attachments, the four span composite construction bridge was successfully removed during a recent 10-hour night time closure of the M8.

In Australia, UBS Infrastructure Fund, Access Capital and Queensland Motorways are reported as heading the bidders' shortlist for the Clem Jones Tunnel of RiverCity. RiverCity's receiver KordaMentha and sell-side adviser Goldman Sachs have ushered through several shortlisted bidders through to the second round. The Clem Jones Tunnel was secured against RiverCity's debt pile of US$1.37 billion (AUD 1.50bn). It is thought that the road may be sold for around $550.3 million (AUD 600mn). Clem Jones Tunnel is sa

Turkey generated US$200.79 million (TRY 390mn) from motorway and bridge tolls in the first half of 2013. In H1 2013, bridges were used by 76.5 million vehicles raising $57.24 million (TRY 111.5mn) revenue. Over the same period, motorways were used by 110 million vehicles raising $143.55 million (TRY 280mn).

A toll plaza may be established by the French government to fund a US$1.53 billion (€1.2 billion) expansion to three-lanes of the A31 motorway from Nancy, France, to Luxembourg. The tolling operation is likely to be somewhere on the busy A31 stretch between Thionville, France, and Luxembourg. Some 100,000 cars travel between Thionville and Luxembourg each day, and it has become an alternative route for travelling between Germany and the Mediterranean.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries investment in road, rail and inland waterway infrastructure as a percentage of GDP averages around 1%, according to new research by the International Transport Forum (ITF). The figure is contained in the ITF at the OECD’s 2013 annual statistics update ‘Spending on Transport Infrastructure 1995-2011: Trends, Policies, Data’, which is accompanied by a related database, released today.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) is to head a consortium building the lateral towers, aprons and suspension cables for the new Bosporus crossing in Turkey. Hyundai E&C will work in a consortium with its partner SK Engineering & Construction on the US$697 million project to construct the 2.16km Third Bosporus Bridge. This suspension bridge will feature eight lanes for motor vehicle traffic as well as two rail lines. With a width of 59m it will be the widest bridge in the world that carries a