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Financing is being made ready for a highway project in Turkey. The upgraded route will connect Turkey’s commercial centre, Istanbul, with the port city, and holiday destination, Izmir. Work will be carried out along a 45km stretch and also includes construction of a new suspension bridge. Some US$1.35 billion will come from Turkish banks including Akbank, Finansbank, Halk Bank, Garanti, Vakfbank, Yap ve Kredi Bank and Ziraat Bank.

Chinese contractor China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) is now working on two huge highway projects worth over US$417 million in total. One of the projects involves work to an existing route in Sichuan Province. This will see the Hongxing road south in Chengdu City being extended. At Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province, CRCC will work on the south central expressway project. Both highway projects will help boost connectivity and trade.

Morocco’s Transport Ministry is proposing tougher measures to boost road safety. Following a recent coach crash that killed 43 people in Morocco, various safety issues have been highlighted. The authorities say that vehicles more than 20 years old are allowed on Morocco’s roads, subject to regular roadworthiness checks.

Financial issues are now impacting heavily on Spain's Radial 4 (R-4) highway. The companies involved, Autopista Madrid Sur Concesionaria Espanola and Inversiones de Autopistas del Sur, are facing high levels of corporate debt.

Chinese manufacturer XCMG has scored key supply deals for new construction machines within Europe. These models were launched in Europe earlier in 2012 and have now been delivered to customers within Poland. The deals are of note as XCMG is facing tough competition within Europe and have been achieved despite an overall fall in sales of construction machines into Poland.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has announced the winners of its annual student video contest. A group of 18 high school students from North Carolina and three graduate and post-graduate students from New England were named winners. Sponsored by ARTBA’s Research and Education Division (RED), the contest challenges grade school and post-secondary students to develop a brief video that explores issues relating to America’s transportation network. Students were asked to addres

British men are 6.4% more likely than British women to pass their practical driving test, according to road safety charity the IAM. But while young men are more likely to pass their driving test, they are also three times more likely to be killed or seriously injured (KSI) behind the wheel. The IAM findings are a result of analysing pass rates statistics from the Department for Transport (DfT) published in August 2012 for the financial year 2011-2012.

Bosnian motorways company Autoputevi RS claims that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has expressed readiness to approve a € 350 million loan for the construction of the 46.6km long part of the Corridor Vc motorway, from Doboj to Vukosavlje. The project is set to be carried out through what has been described as a public and private partnership model.

St. Petersburg's transport companies are opposing the increase of transport tax on over 187 kW capacity trucks. They say that tax rate increase, together with other fiscal measures, will render them profitless. As a result, they may adopt shadow business practices, decrease the number of local drivers in favour of cheaper foreign labour force, and transfer their business to a new jurisdiction.