News

Europe’s road building contractors are likely to see a drop in activity levels in Poland in coming years. This is likely to spark concern in the industry as Poland has been a major source of revenue in recent years due to the expansion of its road network. The country’s expenditure on road building may well shrink in the next EU budget. Poland’s Infrastructure Ministry GDDKiA has said that the pace of road building in the country will drop considerably after 2013. GDDKiA said that it had no information as y

Frost-heaving continues to be a problem on Norwegian roads despite the introduction of tougher regulations for building and frost securing over the last 20-30 years. An expert group at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen) has reviewed the problem and concluded that lacking technical competence among road builders and those controlling construction is the main problem. Norway’s Directorate of Public Roads (Vegdirektoratet) admits that there are problems with the lack of competence but

Upgrade work to five sections of the D1 highway in the Czech Republic is due to commence in spring 2012. The first sections to be rebuilt are from are Sternov-Psare, Loket-Horice, Vetrny Jenikov-Jihlava, Lhotka-Velka Bites and Velka Bites-Devet Krizu. The Transport Ministry prioritised these sections for repair, although full permission has yet to be given before the work can commence.

Plans are in hand in Romania for the upgrades to the Bucharest ring road. This work is due to be completed by 2014, according to the country’s Transport Ministry. Reconstruction and modernisation of the Chitila-Voluntari segment of the ring road was completed in 2010 and the modernisation of another two segments were completed in 2011. Also, the upgrading of two further segments will be finished by mid 2013. The investment in the five segments of the ring road is expected to reach €100.17 mill

Volvo Construction Equipment has begun the first phase of the US$100million expansion of its site in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. The initial works include the construction of a new America’s HQ office and demonstration centre. Incorporating the latest environmental building practices, the expansion is said by Volvo CE to be a visible sign of the company’s commitment to the North American market. The completed facility will also localise production of some of Volvo CE’s larger construction machines. These a

The Russian highway authorities intend to invest a massive €16.78 billion (US$24.23 billion) in road construction and repairs during 2011. This investment will come from federal and regional budgets and represents a 40% increase over spending made in 2010. The plans involve repairs to 5,500km of road surface at a cost of €2.11 billion ($3.046 billion).

Recently (18th-19th October), over 180 road research experts met in Brussels to discuss more than 25 road research projects. Experts from Europe, the USA, Australia, India, Japan and South Africa discussed the themes of Resources, Recycling and Alternative Materials (on the first day) and Implementation (on the second day) using the road research projects as case studies. The event opened with the final conference of the DIRECT-MAT project to share knowledge and practices on DIsmantling and RECycling Techni

Italy’s construction equipment manufacturer’s association says that 2010 was a tough year for its members. During 2010 equipment sales in Italy dropped 5.3% from 2009, itself a bad year. This data comes from a survey by research specialist Cribis D&B, which investigated the sector for Unacea. The Italian construction equipment manufacturers say that machine sales were worth some €2.3 million in the period, a drop of 47% compared to the peak year 2008. As regards the different sub-sectors, earthmoving machin

The Hyundai ix35 fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) has been selected by the European Commission-backed Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) to be used as a demonstration vehicle to test and promote hydrogen fuel cell technology in a real-world environment.As part of the announcement made yesterday at the FCH JU-organised "Joint Technology Initiatives:

City CarShare, a non-profit organisation, in collaboration with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), will implement the city's first on-street car sharing demonstration and research project as part of a six-month pilot programme. Eleven on-street parking spaces will be implemented

The latest official data shows a continuing improvement in road safety statistics in both France and the UK. However the data also reveals worrying trends in accidents concerning vulnerable road users. Department for Transport figures for 2010 have revealed a 17% drop in road fatalities to 1,850. But 111 pedal cyclists died in 2010, compared with 104 in 2009, with cyclist fatalities in capital London of particular concern. The DfT believes that the severe winter weather, lower traffic in general due to th

Construction began earlier this week of the last section of the US$630.30million D8 motorway through the Ceske Stredohori mountain range in the Czech Republic. The geological survey on the 12.7km road has been under way since 23 April, 2012. The D8 project is expected to be completed by early 2015.