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JCB Finance is celebrating its 40th Anniversary, tracing its origins back to the formation of JCB Credit in February 1970. In the first year of operation it achieved a turnover of £900,000 (€1 million) reaching the milestone of over £500 million (€563 million) in lending balances in December 2007. August 1998 saw a name change to JCB Finance Limited, the result of a desire from JCB to replicate the success of its UK finance arm under one common finance brand across the world.

It now looks as if construction work will start on the new bridge across Italy’s Messina Strait.

French company CS Communication & Systèmes has announced it has delivered the Poland A1 Phase 2 tolling and ITS project two months ahead of schedule. Earlier this year, Intertoll, the prime contractor of the project, asked CS to accelerate the project that was initially expected to be completed on 21 December, 2011. The scope of this project included the design, supply, installation and maintenance of six toll plazas, 16 automated entry lanes and 23 manual exit lanes. CS also designed and installed a full I

Luxembourg’s Ministry for Infrastructure is calling for more funding for work on the country’s Nordstraße highway in the north of the country.

Austria’s new A5 autobahn is now officially open to traffic and the highway is also the first in the country being built under the PPP model. The first 16km stretch of the highway was opened in November 2009 on schedule with the second 35km section now having been opened as well. The contract was carried out by concession company Bonaventura Strassenerhaltungs, a partnership headed by German company Hochtief and Austrian firm Alpine Bau each with 44.4% stakes while French firm Egis Preojects holds the remai

The Slovakian government is being asked for financial compensation by Granvia, the group building the country’s new Nitra-Banska Bystrica highway. Granvia is building the highway under the PPP model through a 30-year concession deal. The compensation has been requested due to delays that have been caused by the need for archaeological investigations along the route.

The German manufacturers association, VDMA, has compiled data suggesting that following the slump in construction equipment sales in 2009, the market will recover in 2010. The VDMA reports that in 2009 German construction equipment sales fell in by some 43% to €9.5 billion. Dr Christof Kemmann, VDMA chairman said at a recent board meeting of the organisation, “...2009 has been the most difficult year ever for our industry.”

Austrian motorway operator Asfinag and the Austrian Federal Agency for Technological Measures AustriaTech are planning to test the newly-developed infrastructure-vehicle communication system with 5,000 more vehicles on Austrian motorways. This is part of the European Union (EU) project COOPERS (CO-OPerative SystEms for Intelligent Road Safety), which started in February 2006 with a four-year duration and a total Budget of more than €16.8 million.

Poland’s Ministry of Infrastructure is requesting that the country’s Ministry of Regional Development transfer EU grants worth some €10.66 billion. These funds had been set for use in specific road building projects, but the Ministry of Infrastructure wants to use the funds for other road schemes, preventing the money from being wasted where certain road projects are delayed. Major road projects would then be put on a list of those eligible for the EU funds.

Plans are in hand in Switzerland for a new highway connection between Locarno and the rest of the country’s national highway network. A study by an engineering consultancy has suggested six options, with costs estimated from €530-€798 million, and all will require tunnel construction.

The Bosnian autonomous entity Republika Srpska recently cancelled a highway contract with Austrian construction company Strabag. The problem arose from alleged “irregularities” that saw the contract being awarded directly to Strabag without the work being put out for tender. Because of this, international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have said they will not fund the project.

A new study carried out in the US reveals that teenaged drivers taking other teenagers as passengers have a higher fatality risk. The study used national fatality statistics data and was carried out by the American Automobile Association's Foundation for Traffic Safety. It revealed that teenagers sharing a ride with other teenagers have a higher chance of getting killed in a car crash depending on the number of passengers in the car.