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The Canadian city of Montreal will invest a record US$408 million on infrastructure improvements this year, around half to spent on road upgrades and the other half on water projects. One of the city’s executive committee members, Lionel Perez, said much is being done to mitigate problems for drivers and cyclists during prolonged construction periods, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette newspaper. Perez said drivers on rue St-Denis, a main shopping street, can now use bluetooth technology to

Kenya will receive up to US$284.75 million from France for infrastructure development. The funding includes loans and grants and will be used to finance several infrastructure projects. Kenya will use a significant portion to finance its Last Mile Connectivity Programme. Another portion will be spent on the second phase of the Roads 2000 Programme. In addition, Kenya has secured funding for the East Africa Development Bank.

Saudi Arabia’s shockingly high crash rate is providing cause for concern. Research suggests that the country could see up to 1.1 million road crashes in 2016. This data comes from statistics provided by Najm Insurance Services of Saudi Arabia. The firm’s studies suggest that the number of motor vehicle crashes in the country could increase from 962,000 in 2015 and top 1.1 million in 2016. The insurance firm estimates that 17 people/day die due to road crashes in Saudi Arabia. It is also estimated that less

The Swiss Government has announced plans to invest over €596 million/year in improvements to the country’s road infrastructure. The money will be placed in the newly created national roads fund. This money will largely come from government income from car road taxes and taxes from the sale of fuel.

Concern is being expressed at the rapid rise in road deaths in Myanmar. The road fatality rate has increased substantially in recent years, as has the number of vehicles on the country’s road network. In the period from 2009-2014, the number of registered vehicles in Myanmar more than doubled. And in 2014 the World Health Organisation highlighted its concern that Myanmar’s road death rate had more than tripled in less than 10 years. According to official data, Myanmar had over 15,000 road crashes, 25,000

Moves are underway in the Netherlands that could see only electric cars being sold in the country from 2025. Proposals are now being made to ban the sale of diesel and petrol fuelled cars in the country, with these having passed initial stages of acceptance by the Dutch Government according to reports in the local press, DutchNews. The plan forms part of the country’s drive to meet pledges made at the most recent UN Conference on Climate Change, which was held in Paris in 2015.