News

Dana has signed an agreement to purchase the drive systems segment of the Switzerland-based Oerlikon Group for around US$600 million. The deal, pending regulatory approval, is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2019 at the latest. Oerlikon’s drive systems business makes high-precision gears, planetary hub drives for tracked vehicles and products, controls and software that support vehicle electrification across the mobility industry.

World Highways contributor Maxwell Gordon-Lay is publishing a new book entitled ‘The Harnessing of Power’. In this book being published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Lay details the history of transport in the 19th century. This reveals the importance of the transport innovations introduced in the 19th century and how these shaped transport moving ahead into the 20th and 21st centuries.

Construction work on the Kramertunnel in South Germany is to restart. The tunnel is needed to help reduce traffic delays in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the southern German state of Bavaria and with lies next to the border with Austria. The twin tube tunnel stretches will both be around 2.8km long and the project will also include building six bridges as part of the new bypass around the town. The new bypass, with its tunnel and bridges, is required as traffic jams occur regularly in the town on th

A new road safety conference is being planned in Morocco. This event is intended to help address poor road safety across Africa as a whole, in a bid to cut the shockingly high casualty rate. The event is being organised by the Moroccan National Committee for Prevention of Road Accidents. The African continent has a high risk of death for road crashes for vulnerable users. Pedestrians and cyclists represent 43% of Africa’s road victims. On a global level, vulnerable road users account for an average of 26

The contracts for two major road projects have been awarded in Argentina. Both of the road contracts will be handled under the PPP model, having been awarded by the Argentine Government. Jose Cartellone Construcciones Civiles will handle the contract for a 780km stretch of the C road corridor, connecting capital Buenos Aires with Mendoza, close to the Chilean border. Meanwhile a consortium comprising Paolini, Vial Agro and INC will handle the contract for 706km of road for the A road corridor, which is loc

A major road infrastructure development is being put forward in South Australia. A 14km-long bridge is being proposed that would connect Kangaroo Island with the mainland. The bridge has an estimated pricetag of US$3.7 billion (A$5 billion). The proposals call for a PPP project, with tolls on the four lane bridge helping to pay for its construction. However with a population of under 5,000, there are questions as to whether there would be sufficient traffic between Kangaroo Island and the mainland to make t

After decades with no proper transport connections South Korea and North Korea will soon have new road and rail links. The South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is drawing up plans to rebuild the cross border, transport connections between the two countries. Work looks set to commence in 2018 on rebuilding a 12km highway section, as well as a 105km stretch of rail. Officials from both countries will carry out inspections jointly on the transport links so as to determine the extent of t

Up to 15 public-private partnerships are likely to be underway in Romania by the end of the year, according to the government. Included will be the Sudului, Ploesti-Brasov and Targu Neamt-Iasi-Ungheni motorways. A tender will be launched for the Danube-Bucharest corridor, which will be carried out in partnership with the state. These highway projects were among a list of strategic PPP projects that the government published in May. Other projects included a large medical complex near the capital Buchar

A consortium of PRKiI Trakcja and Mostostal Warszawa has signed a contract for construction of an S61 dual carriageway section between the Elk Poludnie to and Wysokie junctions. The work, costing around €159 million, is scheduled for completion in June 2021. The S61 expressway will, when finished, run south from the Polish-Lithuanian border near Budzisko where it will connect with Lithuania’s A5 and intersect with the S8 near Ostrów Mazowiecka. It will also be part of the Via Baltica connecting the Ba

Road contractors in the Canadian province of Alberta are demanding tenders be conducted for maintenance contracts that are currently run by Carillion, now in receivership. Carillion, based in the UK, went into receivership in January, and its Canadian operations did so as well, around a week later. The call for tenders in Alberta arose when the Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association learned that more than US$380 million worth of road contracts are likely to be handed over to Emcon, a

CEMEX is developing its presence in the concrete technology segment with a strategic investment. The firm’s CEMEX Ventures division is buying a stake in the specialist Concrete Sensors, a US firm that carries out real-time monitoring of concrete. Concrete Sensors uses real-time data from sensors, allowing contractors to accelerate their schedules through accurate real-time monitoring of temperature, relative humidity, and strength with any mix design of concrete. The firm uses embedded wireless sensors, com

Italy has seen steady growth in sales of construction machines during the first two quarters of 2018. During this period there were 6,389 units of construction machines sold in the Italian market. This is of note as it represents a 25% jump in sales over the same period for 2017. Of the machines sold, earthmoving equipment dominated, with 6,157 units, while there were also 232 road machines sold. The data has been released jointly by the Monitor of Foreign Trade of the Samoter Outlook, edited by Prometeia