News

HTS (Hi-Tech Solutions), a specialist in the optical character recognition (OCR) and computer vision systems market, has established a wholly-owned US subsidiary, HTS Americas, based in New York, and named John Whiteman as its CEO.

Astec Industries is setting up Astec Mobile Machinery, which will be based at Hameln in Germany. The new facility will help the firm's international growth, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia where the firm already has a strong sales presence and where road construction is strong at present.

Mexico's Government is launching the tender process for maintenance works to 734km of roads in the states of Mexico and Michoacan. The deal will be for a seven year period and this is the third of 43 tenders being launched by the Secretary of Transport and Communications (SCT)

Russia's state-owned company Avtodor has approved a massive new road development programme that stretches to 2019. The firm plans to build over 1,900km of roads, of which 1,200km will be tolled. Avtodor expects that its income will reach US$2.92 billion from the tolled roads. The investment programme will be jointly funded by state and private sources.

In Slovakia the new government is pledging to speed up the country’s highway construction programme. Suggested policies include a re-introduction of land expropriation. The Slovakian government's current priority is to complete the Bratislava - Kosice highway. The use of EU funds does not look likely for the project and instead, the PPP structure will probably be used to finance the work.

Sandvik Mining and Construction has bought Shanghai Jianshe Luqiao Machinery Co (SJL), a major Chinese manufacturer of crushing and screening equipment, which sells its products under the SHANBAO brand.

The Spanish construction firm ACS is tendering for the construction and operation of four bridges in the US. The firm is tendering in partnership with some other US and international firms for some of the projects, which are worth a total of US$11.4 billion. The Tappan Zee project is expected to cost $5 billion and the deal will be for a design and construction contract. The bridge will be located in New York, is being developed by New York State Thruway Authority and will require two, four-carriageway brid

A dramatic fall in traffic accidents last week has been directly linked to the three-day disruption in BlackBerry services, according to an article in The National, the English language newspaper published by Abu Dhabi Media.In Dubai, traffic accidents fell 20 per cent from average rates on the days BlackBerry users were unable to use its messaging service.

The European Commission has tabled a plan which will fund €50 billion (US$68.7 billion) worth of investment to improve Europe's transport, energy and digital networks. It has also announced the Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative which will be one of a number of risk-sharing instruments upon which the facility may draw in order to attract private finance in projects.

Boston-Massachusetts headquartered OLEV Technologies has been appointed the exclusive north and south American licensee responsible for commercialising the OLEV (On Line Electric Vehicle) technology, a zero emission green transportation technology, invented at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)."OLEV technology is a proven, safe and cost-effective green transportation solution that can be deployed today," said Dr. Hikyu Lee, president & CEO of OLEV Technologies.

VAB, the association of Flemish drivers, has said that the new hard shoulder running scheme on the E313 motorway between Antwerp and Liege during rush hours has reduced travel time by 50 per cent.

A preliminary study on the proposed tunnel connecting the islands of Malta and Gozo has been carried out by Mott Macdonald. Mott Macdonald’s preliminary analysis of the Malta-Gozo undersea road link suggests that it would take 5-7 years to build a tunnel between the two islands. This report suggests a cost of €156-€492 million for a single bore three-lane tunnel on the shortest practical alignment route. Potentially, the project could be co-financed by the EU under the Cohesion Fund if a road tunnel link be

Ertico - ITS Europe and ITS China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will open up new areas of cooperation and business opportunities. Both organisations have pledged to intensify efforts to share information about areas of mutual benefit and step up the organisation of demonstrations and workshops where Ertico and ITS China partners can exchange R&D and commercial opportunities

A new study by researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy suggests that young drivers are twice as likely to have a crash if they felt sleepy at the wheel or have had problems sleeping. The study of students found that 56% who'd been involved in at least one accident said they had driven despite feeling sleepy, compared with 35% of those who had not been in a crash. According to the UK motoring organisation the RAC, driver sleepiness is estimated to account for around 20% of accidents on major roads