News

Data from a new government report show that if all the structurally deficient bridges in the United States were placed end-to-end, it would take 25 hours to cross them while driving at 100km/h. The total distance is around 2,500km, roughly the distance between Boston and Miami. The Washington, DC-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is highlighting these findings in a new analysis of US bridge conditions. ARTBA has a list of the top 250 structurally deficient US bridges, state r

The Latvian Ministry of Transport plans to spend more than €135 million upgrading 300 road bridges across Latvia by 2020. According to the Ministry, Latvia's national road network includes only 196 bridges that are in good condition and 223 bridges in a satisfactory condition. As much as 55% of all 943 bridges in Latvia are said to be in poor or very poor condition.

Slovak national motorway company NDS has chosen the consortium consisting of fellow Slovak construction company Duha and Salini Impregilo of Italy as the winner of the public procurement tender to build a 13km stretch of the D1 motorway. The Lietavska Lucka-Visnove-Dubna Skala stretch of Slovakia’s D1 includes the 7.5km long Visnove tunnel and is a tender worth nearly €410 million. It is expected that Skanska and Doprastav, which were excluded from the competition, will appeal against NDS' tender award dec

Universal LRT Corp (ULC), the concessionaire for the MRT-7 Light Rail and Road Project in the Philippines, is expected to commence works on the project this year. ULC has said that the proposed investment in the project, due for completion by mid-2018, has been increased from US$1.24 billion to $1.54 billion. Works will be undertaken by Marubeni of Japan. A 22km six-lane highway from San Jose del Monte City to North Luzon Expressway will form a key part of the project.

Road safety in the Middle East continues to decline, according to the latest data available. There were 945,000 road crashes in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 2012, a rise from the 853,700 in 2011 according to a recent study. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have particularly poor records for road safety. Saudi Arabia had 589,258 crashes in 2012 while Qatar had 252,614 crashes in the same period. In particular, Saudi Arabia is said to have 19.1 road fatalities/day, on average, based on figures from the General

In a bid to reduce costs, increase pavement quality, and minimise travel delays caused by road construction, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) are to help agencies implement a tool that allows contractors to identify concrete pavement surface irregularities during construction. Real-time pavement smoothness has been selected for guided implementation under the second Stra

Although the pace of growth on the Chinese market is slower than previous years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is still predicting China’s GDP to expand by 7.3% in 2014. Organisers of this year’s keenly awaited bauma China exhibition have noted this positive growth forecast and say it is reflected in the near 2,200 exhibitors who have already signed up to showcase their products during the event in Shanghai from November 25-28. The exhibitor figure is around 200 more than at the same point ahead of

The European Parliament has voted to support revised rules on the dimensions of heavy goods vehicles aimed at enabling manufacturers to produce safer lorries. The legislation will, it is claimed, create cabs with improved visibility, reducing the risk of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas. Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), said, “This legislation is a step forward because it will enable innovative new designs that include crumple

reVUE, a Manchester, UK-based risk management company providing evidence based driver intervention training, has published a White Paper on the impact of combining technology and behavioural coaching to reduce risk on Britain’s roads. The firm recently commissioned a research project which produced encouraging findings in relation to the impact of an in-vehicle recording device on improving driver behaviour. This was said to be particularly prevalent when implemented with a corresponding coaching intervent

Excavation work is in hand for the Eurasia Tunnel in Turkey. South Korean contractor SK Engineering and Construction (SK E&C) is carrying out the excavation work as part of a BOT contract. The project is costing some US$1.24 billion and the 5.4km tunnel will provide a new trans-continental connection between the towns of Goztepe and Kazlicesme when it opens in 2017. Running below the Bosporus Strait, the tunnel is expected to reduce the travel time to 15 minutes from the current 100 minutes. The Eurasia Tun

The new Kinrara-Damansara Skyway (Kidex) being planned for Malaysia is expected to help reduce traffic congestion. A study carried out by SKM-CB Colin Buchanan-Sinclair Knight Merz in 2011 indicated that the highway will be able to lower travelling time between Damansara and Kinrara by 25%. Meanwhile the volume of traffic in both directions from Puchong to Petaling Jaya will be lessened by 50%. From Taman Tun Dr Ismail, from Bandar Utama to Petaling Jaya and from the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), traf

A series of key developments will boost the market presence of the electric vehicle worldwide. China is particular looks set to develop its presence in the sector, partly in a bid to reduce the country’s urban pollution problems. A new electric vehicle developed in partnership between Daimler Benz and Chinese firm BYD Automotive looks set to be launched in September 2014. The DENZA model has been developed outside of Germany to meet market needs for China. Customers for the vehicle will benefit from subsidi

Organisers of the 5th edition of the Transport Research Arena (TRA), Europe's largest conference on transport research and innovation, say the event attracted record attendance levels. Held at CNIT in Paris 14-17 April 2014, the event drew almost 3,000 visitors from 56 countries. Over 130 sessions, 650 presentations, 15 associated events and 1,000m² of exhibitions welcomed researchers and industrial and public policy players. They came together to examine their ideas about our society's changing transpor