News

Port connections and infrastructure will be improved in the Chinese city of Yichang, following completion of a series of projects now underway. The work is costing US$331 million and includes building six new roads and four new ports. The key road projects include the Houhe-Jietou tourist route and the Yafan-Baiyang road. The port projects include the expansion of Yichang passenger port and the first phase Baiyang industrial area port. The work is expected to improve the city’s infrastructure and boost its

In Spain the authorities in the Castilla y Leon region are planning to invest €1.21 billion in the construction of 15 highways up until 2020. As part of the project, procedures for building six of the highways should be put in place before the end of 2009. Some €104 million will be invested in 41km Leon-La Baneza highway; €142 million will be spent on two further motorways between Palencia and Paredes de Nava, and Palencia and Carrion de los Condes; a further project includes the last stretch of Segovia's r

Liebherr Group said an increase in trade with emergent markets fuelled an overall Group turnover rise of 9.8% to €8.33billion in 2011. And a Group spokesperson said they expect a further 10% turnover rise for the leading German construction machine manufacturer in 2012. Turnover from construction machinery and mining equipment recorded an above-average increase of 13.5 % in 2011, generating revenues of €5.38billion.

The National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) in Bulgaria is to benefit from funding worth €255.7 million, which is being provided by the EU's operational programme for regional development. The money will be used for upgrades to 660km of second and third category roads. In addition, work on Bulgaria's Lyulin motorway is running to schedule and should be completed in 2012 as planned. The work is being financed by the EU and the first 5km stretch of the road is scheduled to open about now.

The German province of Baden-Württemberg has issued a list of 20 ready to be built federal trunk road projects worth a combined US$1.01billion (€800mn).The first five could be started in 2014 and the next five in 2015 or 2016.

The inquiry into plans to build a second bridge across the River Mersey is underway in the UK. When complete, the €490 million, 1km long Mersey Gateway toll crossing will link Runcorn and Widnes in County Cheshire to ease congestion on the existing Silver Jubilee Bridge. The plans for the six-lane bridge were submitted in 2008 and the crossing is expected to help create thousands of jobs. However opponents of the scheme claim that tolls planned for both bridges would cast an economic blight across the area

Ukraine’s Shulgin State Road Research Institute (DNDI) said US$32.65billion (UAH 264bn) needs to be spent on the country’s roads from 2013-2018. Within the overall figure, DNDI said US$13.22billion (UAH 108.3bn) should be allocated on maintenance and current repair, US$11.83billion (UAH 96.89bn) on construction and reconstruction of 2,200km of highways, and US$2.35billion (UAH 19.27bn) on overhaul.

Millions of US dollars are being poured into new and expanding toll road projects in Indonesia. Wijaya Karya (Wika), the Indonesian government-owned construction service provider, will build toll roads linking Kedung Badak to Kedung Halang and Pandaan to Gempol in Bogor through two contracts worth US$36.35million (IDR 340.80bn) and US$23.98million (IDR 225bn), respectively. Awarded by highways operator Jasa Marga (JSMR), the contracts require the roads completion in 18 months.

The first of a series of Road Safety Seminars being organised in Central and Eastern Europe has confirmed the need for more investment in road safety. The European Union Road Federation, the Brussels Programme Centre of the International Road Federation (ERF-IRF BPC), organised the recent seminar in the Czech capital Prague. Endorsed by the Czech Presidency of the European Union, the seminar proved a tremendous success, attracting over 50 participants as well as a plethora of keynote speakers. The seminar'

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will help funding of the A2 highway project in Poland, which has faced financing problems due to the economic crisis. The EIB is making an exception to its usual policy by granting to Polish company Autostrada Wielkopolska credit that covers over 50% of the costs of the construction work for a highway section. The EIB will provide €1 billion for the A2 investment and to create an option of an additional €200 million. The total value of the investment, which is expected to

The UK charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) believes smoking should be banned in cars because of concerns that children inhale second-hand smoke if their parents smoke while driving. Such a ban already exists in the US, South Africa and various parts of Canada, although in the UK it currently only applies to commercial vehicles. It is understood that increasing the ban to include smoking in all cars would be supported by the road safety charity, Brake. It thinks smoking while driving often means that

XCMG has staged a foundation laying ceremony to mark the start of work on the Chinese construction machine manufacturing giant’s first European HQ. Based in Krefeld, Germany, XCMG Europe’s state-of-the-art €36million plus home is set to be completed and operational by July 2013. Meanwhile, the ambitious firm has completed a stockholding rights transfer which gives it a controlling 52% stake in renowned German concrete machinery firm Schwing.

Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann L. Schneider has kicked off a statewide digital message board campaign to help reduce roadway fatalities occurring this year. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDoT) has started to rotate four key traffic safety messages daily starting, in conjunction with a social media and internet page presence. As of July 5, provisional crash data reports 479 fatalities have taken place on Illinois roadways this year, as compared to 418 during the same timeframe last year.

CS America has successfully completed a fast track open road tolling (ORT) project which took just two and a half months to complete, from planning to lane opening, for Rhode Island Turnpike & Bridge Authority (RITBA). The lanes will help maintain traffic flow on this busy thoroughfare over Narragansett Bay, which is host to the 2012 America’s Cup World Series. The work included implementing the CS gantry FastFlow system with attached antennas, lasers, and cameras, as well as interfacing with the existing R