News

A major highway project is planned for Russia’s Krasnodar Region, part of a series of road works for the area. The state-owned firm Avtodor intends to invest US$767.45 million on developing the M4 Don highway in the Krasnodar Region by 2014. Toll roads will extend for some 766km out of the 1,564km of road development works planned for the Krasnodar Region.

According to the European Union Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise (END), the Member States of the European Union have committed to abide by a strict timetable of milestones and deliverables, all aimed at reducing current levels of noise and improving the life of Europe's citizens. As part of this overall strategy, European leaders were required to submit national noise action plans by 18 January of this year, targeting major roads and all agglomerations wi

Vehicle GPS provider TomTom is revealing details of a study into traffic congestion it had carried out across Europe. This quarterly Congestion Index involves studies of 31 major European cities with populations of over 800,000. According to the study, Poland’s capital Warsaw suffers the worst traffic congestion of any European city. For the UK, the Leeds-Bradford are has come out as the most congested area. Drivers in the Yorkshire conurbation spend an average 86hours/year stuck in traffic jams according t

A partnership between AirSage and Citilabs has announced Cube Cloud, which is claimed to be the world’s first cloud-based traffic analytics solution. Using AirSage’s cell phone signal analysis data, Cube Cloud combines the convenience of an online solution with accurate population movement data to deliver efficient transportation analysis and modelling.

IRF's Washington Programme Centre provides an update on some latest developments in the 2010 Budget plan There has been further recent action from both Congress and the White House on budget plans that will guide the Transportation Reauthorization Bill for the next six years. On 7 May, President Obama proposed large increases for rail and highways in his 2010 Budget plan, including the largest amount of funding that any President has sought for Amtrak, or for the development of high-speed rail in the Unite

Fifty local councils in England saw more than a ten per cent increase in killed and seriously injured (KSI) crash rates between 2010 and 2011, according to an Institute for Advanced Motorists (IAM) analysis of the new road accident figures. The biggest increases in KSI numbers were in St Helens – 62 per cent, Portsmouth – 57 per cent, Stoke on Trent – 57 per cent, and Coventry – 51 per cent. A further 76 councils saw increases in the KSI rate above the national average of two per cent.

Following the adoption yesterday of the European Commission's proposals to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and vans, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) says it will now work with its members to conduct a full analysis of how the proposed targets should be reached as well as their feasibility, and what this means in practice for the industry as a whole. The auto industry shares concerns about global warming and is contributing actively to find sustainable solutions. In 2011, the average

A series of key road and highway projects will boost China’s network. A series of rural roads will be constructed in Tibet autonomous region, with the investment totalling some US$1.9 billion. The plan is to build a total of 24,157km of rural roads and the investment will be made from 2012-2013. Meanwhile work is also commencing on a new highway in Fujian Province. The 74km southeast section of the Fuzhou Raocheng highway is expected to cost $1.98 billion to construct. An agreement over the project has been

The newly-opened High Orchard Bridge in Gloucester, south-west England, links the city's inner relief road to the new south-west bypass and provides access to the massive Gloucester Quays €293.5 million redevelopment scheme. The lift bridge structure was designed and constructed under a joint venture involving English Partnerships, British Waterways and developer Peel Holdings. The €11.74 million structure is a contemporary single-span bridge, with an efficient electro-hydraulic movable, 300tonne lifting d

Major cost reductions are being seen on some key highway projects in Russia including the new ring road project in St Petersburg, where the reduction is US$192.31 million. The management of the ring road in St Petersburg has signed an agreement with the main contractors (Flora, the corporation Inzhtransstroy) to cut costs by 12-17.6% in 2009-2010. The 12% reduction is equivalent to US$32.05 million and will apply to contractors that are to complete facilities in 2009. Meanwhile the 17.6% cut is for work pla

Nynas is investing nearly €2.7 million in new research and development facilities at the company's refinery in Nynäshamn. This investment forms part of the company's ongoing expansion in the world market for specialty oils. The new research and development lab is, in principle, a smaller version of Nynas' full-scale hydrogenation facility. Hydrogenation is one of Nynas' central processes, in which various oil distillates are purified from sulphur and aromatic hydrocarbons using hydrogen gas. Hydrogenation r

A very different road safety picture is emerging in two European nations, France and Germany. In France, the road fatality rate fell 4.7% for the month of June 2012, compared with the same period in the previous year. Some 320 people were killed on French roads in June 2012. In May 2012, the road death rate in France was only 0.9% lower than for the same period in the previous year. But in April 2012 the road death rate dropped 22.2% compared with 2011, 9% in March and 25.3% in February.

Tunnel workers have now connected the two bores for the new highway linking Albania with Kosovo. The 5.6km tunnel forms part of the Rreshen-Kalimash highway, which has so far cost Albania in excess of €1 billion.