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Huesker is celebrating victory in this year’s Milton Vargas Award. Now in its second year and honouring the pioneer of soil mechanics in Brazil who died in May 2011, the Milton Vargas Award is an initiative of the Brazilian magazine Fundações and Obras Geotécnicas. It recognises the work of professionals responsible for planning, design and implementation of large construction projects, whose works have already featured prominently in the magazine. Technical director Dr. Dimiter Alexiew (Huesker Germany); r

Portuguese road management company Estradas de Portugal (EP) received government loans totalling €851.3 million between January and September 2012, bringing the firm's total debt to €2.7 billion in the third quarter of 2012. The amount lent to EP was part of a €2.25 billion sum lent to a variety of non-financial state-owned companies in the first nine months of this year. However, the loans equated to less than half the amount granted by the government in loans to non-financial state-owned firms in the same

Each French car using household loses €623 a year due to being stuck in traffic jams, according to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The annual cost of traffic jams in France is said to be €5.55 billion (US$ 7.22 billion). Direct car using household costs linked to traffic jams, such as fuel and lost work hours, are estimated at €3.88 billion a year in France, as opposed to €3.62 billion in the UK, and €5.64 billion in Germany. In Paris, where 40% of all traffic jams in the c

Brazilian infrastructure company Primav (CR Almeida) is set to increase its share in road management firm Ecorodovias. The company will acquire 19% from Italian civil engineering group Impregilo, in a deal valued at US$971.32 million (BRL 2.02bn), bringing its control over the firm from 45% to 65%. The Administrative Council for Economic Defence (Cade) has already green-lit the operation.

The government of Rostov-na-Donu (South) in south east Russia has adopted a resolution on holding a tender for the right to reach a concession agreement on designing, constructing, and maintaining the Northern tunnel, which will join Rostov-on-Don city centre and a residential area in the north of Rostov-na-Donu municipality. The four-lane road will be 2.5km long. The facility capacity will total up to 60,000 cars per day. The project is estimated to cost €212.85 million (RUB 8.50bn), and the works are exp

Polish state-owned Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) has signed a €900 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The money from the loan will be allocated via the National Road Fund (KFD) in the construction of S7 and S8 dual carriageways. The three-section S7 carriageway will be 90.5km long, while the four-section S8 carriageway will stretch over 301km. Both routes will be part of the Trans-European Networks (TEN) system.

The European Commission (EC) has urged authorities in the Hungarian capital Budapest to introduce the congestion charge in the city by 2015 at the latest or face EU legal sanctions, according to some press reports. Should the local authorities fail to take the step, the EC may launch an infringement procedure against Budapest. Thus, the city’s leaders would be obliged to repay EU funds worth €641.6 million (HUF 181bn) provided for building Budapest's Metro 4 underground line. Earlier this year, the Hungaria

The Expotraffic 2013 exhibition is billed as Russia's showcase for the systems, products and services needed for safe and efficient highways operation and traffic management. The event takes place at Moscow's Expocentr from 12th–14th March 2013 and has already attracted support from organisations leading highways policy and operation in Russia. Among these is the Department for Traffic Management of the Government of Moscow. Responsible for placing and managing traffic cameras, traffic lights, and for road

Plans are well in hand for the Traffex and Parkex exhibitions being held in the UK. This bi-annual event is now in its 26th year, is a three day exhibition combining two trade shows, Traffex and Parkex. Traffex is an international traffic engineering, road safety, parking and highway maintenance exhibition. Meanwhile Parkex is Europe’s largest dedicated parking exhibition. The events are co-located and will take place in Hall 5 at the NEC Birmingham from 16th – 18th April 2013. Traffex and Parkex 2013 are

Interest is strong in the Bridge Innovation Summit 2013 (BIS2013) being held from April 25th- 26th in Beijing, according to the event organisers. The Bridge Innovation Summit 2013 will be the leading event for bridge developments in Asia, with over 20 top executives as speakers and over 150 senior executives as participants. Confirmed leading bridge related companies and organisations include Arup, BAOSTEEL Construction, COWI, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), China Railway Group and China’s

The authorities in Chinese capital Beijing are making a key move to cut transport emissions from large vehicles. Over the next two years there will be a 30% reduction in the number of diesel powered buses in the city. Around 80% of the Beijing Public Transportation Group’s 21,000 buses are currently diesel-driven. But the plan in Beijing is to increase the proportion of clean-energy and new-energy buses to 50% of the fleet in from 2013 to 2014. At present, Beijing’s bus fleet includes 100 pure electric vehi

A new network of fast-charging stations for electric vehicles is planned for in Ireland and Northern Ireland. EU co-financing is providing over €2 million from its TEN-T Programme to research a comprehensive network of fast charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The study will have far wider implications too than Ireland and Northern Ireland as it will provide important data policymakers can use when making decisions on the nationwide roll outs of EV infrastruct