News

MIRA Technology Park in central England has reached the first milestone in its aim to become Europe’s most advanced independent transport technology facility - with the successful completion of its Control Centre. The 3,998m² building, representing a US$9.52 million (£6mn) investment and opened last week by the Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, is the first new building completed since the technology park was granted Enterprise Zone status in August 2011.

Software specialist Bentley Systems continues to add to its portfolio with the acquisition of the SpecWave software, on of a series of moves by the company. This follows on from its recent alliance with GPS pioneer Trimble and underlines Bentley’s strategic plan for expansion in the field of specialist software for industry. The company plans to continue along this path, having achieved notable successes and CEO Greg Bentley said, “One of our highlights in 2011 was our growth in Asia.” A key portion of the

The 43rd annual convention and traffic exhibition will be held in San Diego, California in February 2013. The convention runs from February 22nd-26th while the TrafficExpo is from February 24th-26th. Run by the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) this event will feature a diverse array of conference topics as well as safety technology. ATSSA has now returned to running the event with its earlier format, opening with the conference sessions, and then running on with the exhibition.

The authorities in Bulgaria are in the tender process for the new Sofia-Kalotina highway project. The tender is for a 31.5km section of highway that will connect Bulgarian capital Sofia with Kalotina on the border with Serbia. The deadline for submitting the tender offers is 7th January 2013. Meanwhile in Sofia itself, a €100 million project to improve key roads in the city is now due to commence. Some €50 million of the funding required for the project is being provided in loan form by the European Invest

The latest official data shows an improvement in Italy’s road safety statistics. During 2011 the statistics reveal a 2.7% drop in road accidents compared with the previous year. The data showed a 5.6% fall in fatalities in 2011 compared with the previous year, as well as a 3.5% drop in road crashes causing injuries. The total number of road accidents reported stood at 205,638, causing 292,019 injuries and 3,860 fatalities. However, a worrying trend revealed that the number of fatalities and serious injuries

Plans are in hand in Mexico for a new road tunnel that will provide a key link. The 7km tunnel will be constructed at Acapulco port, in Guerrero state. The project is expected to cost in the order of US$214.75 million to complete. Work is due to commence in late January 2013 and should be completed within a two year time scale. The new tunnel will help improve logistics and communications for firm using the port. The project is being carried out by Mexican contractor ICA.

In India a major bridge building programme is being planned by the authorities. The country’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) intends to erect over 35,000m of bridges within the next five years. The road network in India at present features around 100,000 bridges, of which some 15,000 bridges are on National Highways. India's Road Transport and Highways Ministry is keen to use pre-fabricated bridges where possible, so as to reduce costs and speed erection. These may well be used in areas of the country feat

Police in Europe are using tough enforcement to tackle the problem of drivers under the influence of drink and drugs. A series of measures have been employed to enforce drink driving and drug driving regulations across Europe. Police conducted more than 900,000 breath tests in a seven-day operation this summer. Of these, nearly 18,000 drivers tested positive for alcohol. Motorists were also checked for drugs in the operation. In total, 928,863 drivers were checked and there were 17,970 alcohol and 2,773 dru

Work on a major new highway connection is now underway in New Zealand. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) says that preparatory work for a 4.5km stretch of highway is underway. Actual construction expected to commence in late December 2012. Completion of the project is due by 2016, with the highway costing some US$1.32 billion. The project will see the construction of a six lane link connecting State Highways 16 and 20 in Auckland.

The Belarus Ministry of Transport is setting out a budget to rebuild the country’s most important highway links. The country’s Federal Highway will be reconstructed and the Ministry of Transport will publish the tender for the repair work in 2013. The project is expected to cost in the region of US$4.75 billion to carry out and is planned for completion by 2018.

Over 2,000 vehicles have failed Ireland’s National Car Test (NCT) so far during 2012. All of these vehicles and were taken off the road for not meeting basic safety standards, according to data from Ireland’s the National Car Testing Service (NCTS). The data shows that 2,349 vehicles failed because they were classed as dangerous. Almost 300,000 vehicles, more than half of those tested between January and July, failed the first test and had to return for a retest.

Road authorities in Ireland are now installing signs aimed specially at Australian tourists

A new highway project planned for East African nation Uganda will improve the country’s network and boost connectivity. This US$270.55 million project is for the construction of an eight lane highway connecting capital Kampala with Jinja. The project is being planned by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) and the work will be carried out under the PPP model. The new tolled highway will help reduce congestion on the existing road and will also cut journey times and improve safety by skirting smaller t