News

The future of Britain’s highways industries, including maximising reduced budgets and improving road safety, forms the core of the conference programme at the Seeing is Believing event. With a keynote address and introduction by Roads Minister Mike Penning MP, Seeing is Believing, a combination of industry conference, trade exhibition and live demonstrations, has his full support, and is being held at a purpose-designed venue at the MIRA site, near Nuneaton, County Warwickshire, England, from 9-11 November

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing major funding in Albania’s road network. A loan worth €53 million will help pay for the construction of the new Fier and Vlore bypasses. This loan will aid further development of the Albanian road network and boosting economic integration in the country by co-financing the construction of the two bypass roads, located in south-western Albania. The EBRD loan is structured in two tranches and will be used by the Albanian Road Authority t

A new 1.5km tunnel to carry vehicle traffic, and estimated to cost €130 million, is being planned in the Finnish capital Helsinki. The tunnel would run under the Kalasatama area, and is the latest of several tunnelling projects under Helsinki. A major utility tunnel network system was started some years ago with the aim of reducing roadworks and congestion.

A report on road maintenance in 13 European nations highlights Italy as spending the most on its network in 2007. According to the data, Italy spent €835 million on road maintenance followed by the Netherlands with €786 million, the UK with €753 million and Spain with €718 million.

The new Ford Focus has become the first ever car to receive four Euro NCAP Advanced safety rewards after its driver alert and forward alert technologies were honoured this week. The rewards come a month after new Ford Ranger achieved an historic first by becoming the only pickup to receive a maximum 5 Star safety rating from Euro NCAP. Ranger also achieved the highest score ever recorded by Euro NCAP for pedestrian protection.

Belgian authorities are planning to tackle the growing problem of drivers operating vehicles while under the influence of drugs. Testing of a new system that uses saliva to establish whether drivers have drugs present in their system is now starting. Previous methods of testing for drugs using blood tests or psycho-motor skills will be replaced, should the tests on the new system prove successful.

Questions are being asked in the Netherlands following the news that twin road tunnels planned to form part of the new 7km stretch of the A4 highway between Delft and Schiedam will not meet EU safety regulations. The Dutch Commission for Tunnel Safety says that the link, which has a total of eight lanes, will not meet the EU regulations, which were toughened after a series of tunnel disasters in Austria and Switzerland. Instead the commission wants four tunnels to be built, each for two lanes of traffic,

Since 1990 loans worth a total of €10 billion have been granted by the EIB for Polish road projects, with some 20% of the loans going to private companies. During 2010, the EIB will be lending some €2.79 billion for Polish road projects.

TRL has seen significant growth in its software sales and consultant services to the Canadian market over the past 12 months. In order to continue its support to this important growth area it has joined the Transport Association of Canada (TAC) with members of TRL’s traffic and software team supporting its participation by attending the TAC Annual Conference and Exhibition in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in late September. Gavin Jackman, TRL’s Head of Traffic and Software said: “During the last 12 months we have

French motorway operator Autoroutes Paris Rhin-Rhône (APPR) is testing the use of a vertical-axis wind turbine from Cita Production that can also harness the backdraft from passing trucks to increase output by some 20 per cent. The device, which has been tested successfully on the A6 motorway and will shortly go into full production, is designed to power roadside devices such as road signs, cameras, traffic monitoring sensors, and weather stations, where connection to the electricity grid would be too expen

A new section of Western High Speed Diameter (WHSD) highway from the Ring Road (KAD) to the Hyundai plant in Kamenka, has been opened to traffic in St Petersburg. The WHSD and KAD interchange will be completed by 2012 when the entire third phase of the highway will be built. The US$7.23 billion WHSD Tollway in the city is sponsored by the Federal Road Agency and it is said to be one of the most important means of solving the city’s transport problems. It is a strategic investment project to develop the ci

The authorities in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu are working fast to widen the Kathmandu Valley road. This key widening project includes take-up of public land along the route of the road as well as some land nearby belonging to government offices. The road widening programme has already seen the demolition of roadside structures in New Baneshwore, Kalimati, Lainchour, the wall of the Social Welfare Council Compound, Nagpokhari, Jay Nepal, Kamaladi and a portion of the Narayanhiti National Museum. It has also r

The President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso has unveiled his plans to raise new sources of finance to fund EU infrastructure projects. In a key 'State of the Union' address to the European Parliament, he said it would involve the establishment of EU project bonds issued in conjunction with the European Investment Bank (EIB).