News

Authorities on the North East coast of the United States have begun repairing damaged highways and road bridges as part of a multi-billion dollar huge clean-up operation following the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. More than 250 people were killed in the superstorm that also wreaked havoc in parts of the Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic, with lesser impacts also felt in South Eastern and Mid-West American states and Eastern Canada, in late October 2012. This photograph taken of a Hurricane Sandy-hi

Atlas Copco intends to acquire the Swiss MEYCO business, a move that widens its product range for the tunnelling market. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed and Atlas Copco’s Swiss subsidiary will acquire the MEYCO Equipment business from BASF Construction Chemicals Europe. This move brings a comprehensive range of mobile equipment for shotcreting in underground operations. MEYCO has offices and an assembly facility in Winterthur, Switzerland and its products include carrier-mounted concrete spray

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to loan the Uzbekistan government US$220 million for highway reconstruction projects. The Uzbekistan authorities will use the funds, which will cover 25 years and come with a five-year grace period, to reconstruct sections of the 75km Tashkent – Osh highway. The two-lane asphalt coating will be replaced with a four-lane cement concrete coating.

Works to widen a section of the CA-2 Occidente motorway in Guatemala will cost US$380.88 million (GTQ 3bn). The project, awarded to Brazilian construction firm Norberto Odebrecht, will see the key route widened to four lanes between Cocales and the border with Mexico. Brazil's BNDES bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) are financing the works, which is due to begin in February 2013.

A new, short video shot on in Dublin shows the effort and resource put into a large-scale 'Mandatory Alcohol Test' on a busy street in the city. Nearly 200 people were tested (car drivers, motorcyclists, bus and van drivers) during the hour-long operation. There was not a single positive test provided - and this backs up new statistics from Ireland that show the success of their decision to introduce a lower alcohol limit for drivers in October 2011. The detection rate in 2007 was one in 25. Today it stands

Ammann and Gujarat Apollo Industries Ltd (GAIL) have signed binding agreements which will see Ammann Group pay around €44 million to acquire a 70% share in the Indian company’s plant and machine business. Said to be the Indian market leaders in road construction equipment, GAIL’s core products include road pavers, asphalt mixing plants, bitumen sprayers and compaction machines. The joint venture is seen by the Ammann Group as underscoring its global growth strategy while, crucially, heralding its entry into

The FeRRM13 event is now becoming repackaged as FIRM13 and will showcase research on multi modal transport infrastructure. This key infrastructure research meeting will be held from 4th-6th June 2013 in Brussels. With the theme of "Advanced and Innovative Construction and Maintenance", the conference FIRM13 will feature updates on the coming Infravation 2014 project and other key targets for FEHRL projects. The latest progress on Forever Open Road programme and FORx4 initiative on transport infrastructure w

Plans are well in hand for the 12th Beijing International Construction Machinery Exhibition and Seminar (BICES 2013). This will be held at Beijing Jiuhua International Exhibition Centre from 15th to 18th Oct, 2013 and will also be co-located with the China International Commercial Vehicle Exhibition (IVEX 2013) and China International Emergency Rescue Equipment Exhibition. BICES 2013 is expected to achieve an increase in exhibition area, with 230,000㎡ of space planned, while the number of exhibitors will ex

Plans are being worked on that will attempt to reduce traffic congestion in Algerian capital Algiers. The city has a chronic traffic problem, with some 1.7 million registered vehicles circulating on a road network with insufficient capacity. Blocked routes and bottlenecks compound the problem in many areas so a new plan aims to address these issues by building new major and minor roads, underpasses and flyovers. Also included are multi-storey car parks, park and ride schemes and coach stations. The new plan

New advances in electric motor development could lead to more efficient electric vehicles being developed. Japan’s Tohoku University has been working on switched reluctance motors that feature an axial gap design and do not require permanent magnets. These can deliver the same torque as motors featuring permanent magnets however, a key point as the cost of the rare earths needed in permanent magnets has increased. Meanwhile Nissan said that sales of its Leaf model are now growing, with 46,000 having been bo

Construction work is set to recommence on four highway projects in Greece. The construction work ground to a halt when the country’s economic woes began to bite hard. However the work now looks set to restart in spring 2013 following negotiations between the four consortia involved and the Greek Government. However, construction of highway sections from Trikala to the Egnatia Highway and from Lamia to Xiniada in central Greece and from Patra to Tsakona in the Peloponnese has been postponed. The decision for

A new project by the Government of Nepal recently connected Mugu a distant, mountainous and remote district of Karnali Zone to the country’s road connectivity and has been the 73rd district of the 75 in road connection. The road was opened officially by Nepal’s prime minister, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, while The minister for Physical Planning and Transport Management Hrideyesh Tripathy, finance minister Barha Man Pun, chief of army staff Gaurav Shumser Rana and vice-chairman Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri of Nationa