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A demolition contractor used 180kg of explosives to bring down an old bridge structure in the US state of Mississippi. The Big Ridge Road Bridge in D’Iberville was demolished as part of a project as part of a US$41 million project to construct a new interchange. Work on the interchange is expected to be complete in 2015. The work is being carried out for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

A study carried out by research company Transport and Mobility in Belgian capital Brussels shows that if more drivers switch from cars to motorcycles, congestion will be reduced significantly. The study investigated the effects of increasing the percentage of motorcycles to traffic flow using a stretch of road used by commuters driving into Brussels, which is one of Europe’s most congested cities. The research team evaluated traffic flow as well as air quality. Using sensors placed along the route, and meas

The redirective capabilities of the latest safety barrier systems can prevent deaths and serious injuries in the event of unforeseen incidents. Sudden tyre failures can be particularly risky with regard to heavy trucks travelling at high speeds on highways. However effective barrier selection can ensure cross-over crashes are avoided, reducing the risk of crashes causing catastrophic deaths and injuries, as this video from the UK reveals.

An improvement in road safety has been revealed in the Czech Republic. Data from the Czech Transport Ministry shows that the country’s road death toll dropped by 12% for 2013 compared with the previous year. There were 583 road deaths within 24 hours of road crashes in the country during 2013, with 654 deaths within 30 days of a crash. On average 63 people/million are killed in road crashes in the Czech Republic, which is higher than the EU average of 52 deaths/million of population.. This places the Czech

Spanish contractor Ferrovial is commencing work on a new highway in Saudi Arabia in partnership with local firm Al Fahd Contracting. The project is for the construction of a 10km section of highway in Riyadh for client, ArRiyadh Development Authority (ADA). The project is worth some US$197 million. Ferrovial subsidiary Ferrovial Agroman will work on this project alongside Al Fahd Contracting. The work includes building three intersections as well as installing traffic monitoring technology. In total, the pr

An analytical road video surveillance system will be introduced in Moscow by the end of 2014 in a bid to reduce accidents and improve emergency services’ response to them. The system will automatically detect road accidents, traffic jams, and dangerous situations on the roads, as well as report on emergency situations to operators, who will make decisions on further actions. It will also analyse data from some 2,500 surveillance cameras and some 15,000 city cameras with a recording function.

The state government of Maharashtra in west India is planning to build a 35km road between Kandivli and Nariman Point in the state's western suburban region. The US$1.33 billion (INR 80 billion) road is planned to have 18 access points and the state government might appoint BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to implement the project on a joint venture basis.

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has extended the deadline for submission of abstracts for the 2014 edition of the AFB20(2) Roadside Safety Design Conference until 30 June 2014. The Conference on 5 November 2014 at the CEN headquarters in Brussels, Belgium will be the perfect opportunity for road safety experts around the globe to gather and exchange information concerning the latest trends and developments in the area of passive safety and road safety design. Abstracts should be a maximum two pag

Specialist firms Bekaert and Maccaferri are establishing a partnership aimed at the tunneling market. The two companies will set up a global sales and distribution joint venture that will provide construction reinforcement solutions for underground infrastructure projects. Bekaert, is a market and technology leader in steel wire transformation and coatings, while Maccaferri is a supplier of advanced solutions to the civil, geotechnical and environmental construction markets. The companies will set up the pa

UK motor insurance firm Aviva has called for tougher custodial sentences for fraudulent 'slam-ons' – road traffic accidents deliberately caused in order to claim for whiplash compensation – which increased by 51% in the UK during 2013, according to Aviva’s claims fraud data. These induced accidents have a value of over €12.5 million (£10 million) and are at the highest levels ever detected by the insurer. In total, Aviva has over 6,000 motor injury claims linked to organised fraud activity and is calling f