Skip to main content

Austrian highway firm opposing larger trucks

Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long. The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due
March 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long.

The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator 4178 Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due to their size and weight. Vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians are thought to be at particular risk should such vehicles be introduced.

The Austrian minister for transport, Doris Bures, is also against the introduction of gigaliners to the country. The possibility of these giant trucks being introduced has also been causing concern in a number of other European nations but it is of note that a leading highway operator in Austria should be against these vehicles.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Smombies! Look out!
    February 12, 2021
    Our city streets are being invaded by smartphone zombies, but help is on the way
  • Improving safety for Europe’s roads revealed by latest data
    May 24, 2013
    A wide variety of road safety measures are being implemented across Europe, and with generally beneficial effects. According to the latest data from the European Commission, road fatalities across the EU dropped 9% for 2012 compared with the previous year. In fact 2012 also saw the lowest numbers of people being killed in road traffic crashes in EU countries since data first began being collated. But country by country statistics show that the number of road deaths still varies greatly across the EU.
  • Road marking system providers’ latest technology in-demand
    April 3, 2014
    The latest road marking systems from leading manufacturers are in demand in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Guy Woodford reports Ennis-Flint recently saw its Third Generation Waterborne Fast Dry Paint with low VOC applied on a Portuguese motorway by Trafiurbe and F.L Gaspar, two of the country’s leading contractors. The line marking is said to have been applied in response to demands from Portuguese authorities for higher specifications of line markings across the country’s highway net
  • India plans major infrastucture investment
    February 10, 2012
    India says it turned its Commonwealth Games into a world-class success, and now it aims to do the same with its infrastructure. Patrick Smith reports. On October, 2010 India put itself on the world stage, and disaster appeared to loom as a catalogue of problems dogged its biggest ever sporting event. Costing nearly US$2 billion to stage, the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever were, according to some, in doubt.