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Funding for a road project in Spain is being set out by contractor Sacyr. The savings banks Caixanova and Unicaja will provide the funding, which will allow work to be completed on a 24.5km stretch of the AP-46 toll road linking Malaga and Alto de Las Pedrizas as to date only half of the work has been finished on the €367 million project. A further €200 million is required, with Sacyr providing the rest from its own sources.

Serbia’s Corridor 10 project, seen as key to the country’s future economic development, is 20 years behind schedule. With construction delayed and the matter being debated, the Serbian Ministry for Infrastructure, which reported the schedule delay, says the country is working as fast as possible, with 22km being built/year. The corridor will connect the country with its neighbours and provide an important route for through traffic.

The UK Government’s annual report on the number of road deaths and injuries shows that 2,222 people were killed in Britain in 2009 while, according to police statistics, 24,690 were seriously injured. However, the real figure is estimated to be closer to 80,000 when data from other sources are taken into account. For the first time the government has estimated the total cost of road deaths and injuries to the economy, taking into account under-reporting of injuries by police and using other data sources.

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,