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The French Association d'Automobilists is about to release a publication detailing its plans to improve road safety in the country. Copies will be distributed to senior officials including those at the Ministry of the Interior and also the French the Prime Minister. The publication reveals that some 30% of deaths on the road are linked to drink driving. One plan to tackle this is to have police patrolling popular night spots and another is to carry out more roadside breath tests and catch drink drivers. Acc

The authorities in Russia’s Urals Region are approving a programme that will see major investment in infrastructure. Some US$3.91 billion will be invested in roads as well as communications, and information technologies between the present and 2020. The transport plans will see 225.4km of roads being rebuilt and improved as well as works to repair and maintain 27 bridges. In addition major repairs will be carried out on both regional and rural roads. A novel part of the programme will be the development of

A new underwater tunnel being created in Istanbul, Turkey will dramatically reduce journey times between two sides of the mega city. The €957.34 million Avrasya Tunnel (Eurasia Tunnel) will connect Kazlicesme on the European side to Goztepe in the Anatolian side via a 15 minute car journey which currently takes around 100 minutes. Situated around 106 metres underwater, the Avrasya Tunnel will be the world's sixth biggest tunnel. It will be based on two storeys of two lanes each, and will be used by aroun

Almost US$500 million will be spent in the three years to 2017 on the electrification of public and private transport in Quebec, Canada. Of the overall programme fund, $11.5 million will be dedicated to develop a provincial car-sharing programme. Meanwhile, Quebec's rebate programme for the purchase of electric vehicles by private owners will be extended with an additional $62.34 million. Under the programme, the number of electric cars in Quebec is expected to rise to 12,500 by 2017, from the present f

In New Zealand, Westland District Council has established Westland Properties to manage a US$181.84 million (NZD 220 million) road project between Milford Sound and Haast. The new South Island road is expected to cover 110km-138km and close to 80km will be located in Southland district. Travelling time between Haast and Milford Sound will be reduced by four to five hours once the new road is completed.

Germany's Transport Ministry is considering the introduction of a vignette, a toll ticket for the use of the nation’s motorways. The plans would require all German and foreign passenger car drivers to buy a vignette for the use of German motorways. Such a vignette for one year could cost €100. The innovative proposal would provide for low-emission vehicles to be granted a discount on the price of the vignette. Owners of cars registered in Germany would be allowed to offset the vignette cost against the m

The 13th TRAFIC International Road Safety and Equipment Exhibition Fair in Madrid is said to have been a major success. Run recently by IFEMA at FERIA DE MADRID, the event attracted 110 exhibitors and 4,432 trade visitors according to the show organiser. In terms of trade visitor profile, 28% were from the various public administrations, 19% were from engineering and consultancy companies, and 6% from state security bodies. Most of the participating companies consulted agreed that although visitor numbers w

The US state of Ohio plans to invest US$120 million in repairing and replacing over 200 county and city-owned bridges over the next three years. The funds are being made available through the state’s efforts at overhauling highway funding by reducing overhead costs and improving efficiency at the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Work is expected to begin on the first 40 bridges next year. ODOT will work with local officials to identify the remaining bridges to repair or replace in the following yea

In the UK a leading consultancy, WSP, is calling for close scrutiny of Census data and traffic trends. This move forms part of the UK Government’s Transport Select Committee investigation into the country’s strategic road network (SRN). According to WSP more must be done to investigate and take account of new trends in development, demographics and travel patterns when making decisions on future infrastructure provision. It claims that there is evidence in some areas that car journeys have been stagnating o

Building on multi-modal transit services provided over the past ten years, Iteris is to provide a multi-jurisdiction bus traffic signal priority system (BSP) for Torrance Transit’s Rapid Line in Los Angeles County, California. The US$2.2 million contract includes the design, procurement, deployment, and on-going operation and maintenance of a multi-jurisdiction BSP at 83 signalised intersections. The BSP system utilises existing on-bus systems that incorporate GPS-based automatic vehicle location equipme