News

India’s massive highway expansion programme is continuing, boosting the country’s construction industry. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) awarded contracts for some 4,375km of roads in the first nine months of 2012, with the work worth an estimated total of some US$70 billion. With this strong construction sector, prospects are also good for the upcoming bC India construction equipment exhibition in February 2013 in Mumbai. This news is a welcome change following a slowing of new Indian road p

According to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), US voters are keen to see increased spending on infrastructure. ARTBA’s analysis suggests that voters approve nearly 70% of state and local transportation ballot initiatives, which is consistent with the results of the last four US elections. ARTBA tracked 31 measures overall; five were statewide initiatives and 26 were local. The measures would increase or extend funding for highways, bridges and transit. All of the seven bond in

An incomplete bridge in Slovakia surprisingly defied an attempt to bring it down with high explosives, officially authorised after the death of four workers in an accident during its construction. The attempt to blast off the part of the under construction D1 highway bridge between the villages of Iliašovce and Kurimany (Prešov region) was made on Tuesday, November 13, 11 days after the tragic incident which also resulted in injuries to a number of other workers.

Saudi Arabia is suffering from poor road safety, despite continuing investment in infrastructure. The country’s road crash rate is very high, accounting for up to 19 deaths/day on average. The data shows that Saudi Arabia’s road network one of the most dangerous in the world. The Government of Saudi Arabia has introduced various policies to address the problem and enforcement has become much tougher. Although congestion is being addressed with the construction of new links and the implementation of ITS tech

A new report from consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan says that China will benefit from unparalleled urban growth. According to the report, China will become the world’s leading economy by 2025, surpassing that of the US. Urban growth and infrastructure investment will see China having 13 mega-cities, four mega-regions and six mega-corridors by 2025. This growth will be fuelled by strong urbanisation, a favourable corporate environment, huge infrastructure investment and the largest working age population. Th

A new partnership between Bentley Systems and the American Association of Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) looks set to yield significant cost benefits for the US. This move will see AASHTO and Bentley align to extend AASHTO’s Bridge Management software with Bentley’s Inspectech package. As a result, bridge inspection processes in the US will become more efficient, more accurate and also see major budget reductions. CEO Greg Bentley said, “In the US we spend about US$1 billion/year on bridge inspec

Software specialist Bentley Systems continues to add to its portfolio with the acquisition of the SpecWave software, on of a series of moves by the company. This follows on from its recent alliance with GPS pioneer Trimble and underlines Bentley’s strategic plan for expansion in the field of specialist software for industry. The company plans to continue along this path, having achieved notable successes and CEO Greg Bentley said, “One of our highlights in 2011 was our growth in Asia.” A key portion of the

The 43rd annual convention and traffic exhibition will be held in San Diego, California in February 2013. The convention runs from February 22nd-26th while the TrafficExpo is from February 24th-26th. Run by the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) this event will feature a diverse array of conference topics as well as safety technology. ATSSA has now returned to running the event with its earlier format, opening with the conference sessions, and then running on with the exhibition.

The authorities in Bulgaria are in the tender process for the new Sofia-Kalotina highway project. The tender is for a 31.5km section of highway that will connect Bulgarian capital Sofia with Kalotina on the border with Serbia. The deadline for submitting the tender offers is 7th January 2013. Meanwhile in Sofia itself, a €100 million project to improve key roads in the city is now due to commence. Some €50 million of the funding required for the project is being provided in loan form by the European Invest

The latest official data shows an improvement in Italy’s road safety statistics. During 2011 the statistics reveal a 2.7% drop in road accidents compared with the previous year. The data showed a 5.6% fall in fatalities in 2011 compared with the previous year, as well as a 3.5% drop in road crashes causing injuries. The total number of road accidents reported stood at 205,638, causing 292,019 injuries and 3,860 fatalities. However, a worrying trend revealed that the number of fatalities and serious injuries

Plans are in hand in Mexico for a new road tunnel that will provide a key link. The 7km tunnel will be constructed at Acapulco port, in Guerrero state. The project is expected to cost in the order of US$214.75 million to complete. Work is due to commence in late January 2013 and should be completed within a two year time scale. The new tunnel will help improve logistics and communications for firm using the port. The project is being carried out by Mexican contractor ICA.

In India a major bridge building programme is being planned by the authorities. The country’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) intends to erect over 35,000m of bridges within the next five years. The road network in India at present features around 100,000 bridges, of which some 15,000 bridges are on National Highways. India's Road Transport and Highways Ministry is keen to use pre-fabricated bridges where possible, so as to reduce costs and speed erection. These may well be used in areas of the country feat

Police in Europe are using tough enforcement to tackle the problem of drivers under the influence of drink and drugs. A series of measures have been employed to enforce drink driving and drug driving regulations across Europe. Police conducted more than 900,000 breath tests in a seven-day operation this summer. Of these, nearly 18,000 drivers tested positive for alcohol. Motorists were also checked for drugs in the operation. In total, 928,863 drivers were checked and there were 17,970 alcohol and 2,773 dru

Work on a major new highway connection is now underway in New Zealand. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) says that preparatory work for a 4.5km stretch of highway is underway. Actual construction expected to commence in late December 2012. Completion of the project is due by 2016, with the highway costing some US$1.32 billion. The project will see the construction of a six lane link connecting State Highways 16 and 20 in Auckland.