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Official estimates suggest that 70% of Ukraine’s highways require capital repairs. Meanwhile, 50% of the country’s highways (80,000km) of highways are in a poor condition. Roads have been made worse by recent bad winter weather. According to Ukraine’s state body Ukravtodor, traffic volumes have also increased 5%/year for the last five years, making the problem worse. And Ukravtodor says that repairs to Ukrainian highways will cost not less than €59.5 billion. Meanwhile Ukraine’s design institute Kievsoyuzdo

A NEW report revealed by the European Commission says that increasing the share of fuel used in transport beyond 5.6% could cause more harm than benefit to the environment. At the end of 2008 the EU agreed to set a target of 10% of transport fuel coming from renewable sources such as biofuels as well as hydrogen and ‘green’ electricity by 2020. The agreement also included a requirement that all new energy sources be sustainable, setting sustainability criteria for biofuels, and is this last point that is p

Leading UK think-tank, The Social Market Foundation (SMF), argues in a new report, Roads to Recovery, that each citizen should be given a free, tradable share in the road network worth over £1,500 (€1,700); road user charges should be introduced, and road tax abolished. The SMF claims the UK’s “creaking transport infrastructure” makes economic recovery harder, with congestion predicted to cost businesses and households an extra £22 billion a year by 2025.

A consortium led by Mott MacDonald and including WYG and Atkins has secured a major European Commission contract to help strengthen vital infrastructure work across the Western Balkans. The consortium will provide technical support as part of the Infrastructure Projects' Facility (IPF) of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). The IPF prepares priority infrastructure projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo. The

The Spanish Ministry of Development is considering nationalising the loss-making radial motorways in Madrid through state-owned company Seittsa. The plan would involve putting in place a toll-payment system to generate revenues to pay interests on debts and maintenance of the roads. The Ministry has already detected 600 locations where remote controlled payment systems could be installed in Madrid to charge those using the roads. The same plan includes a project to nationalise all motorways in Madrid at ris

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry of Japan is about to introduce a study panel to carry out in-depth discussions concerning a vehicle autopilot driving system. The system, which is aimed to be realised in the early 2020s, will apply to self-steering vehicles that feature their own navigation capability. The government intends to build special expressway lanes for such self-driving cars. After entering the designated lanes, the autonomous vehicle can take over the driving task entirely

The Indonesian Government has handed out contracts for the new Sunda Strait Bridge. Construction of the US$11 billion project is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2014. The preliminary work now starting includes a feasibility study and the first stages of the design process, with specialist consultants having been contracted for this work. The bridge will measure some 29km long and will connect Lampung in Sumatra and Merak in Java, crossing the Sunda Strait as its name suggests. The structure wil

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology, an existing Scania customer since 2008, has ordered 375 trucks which will be used as a platform for mobile concrete pumps. Said to be the world’s largest concrete machinery manufacturer, the company's largest mobile concrete pumps, which have a span up to 80 metres, are mounted on Scania’s 4- and 5-axle truck chassis with 6-cylinder 420-470 hp engines.

Nissan Motor Company and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport will begin an eight-month large-scale demonstration test in the city's Wangjing district to verify the effects of traffic dispersion by dynamic route guidance with IT devices.