News

Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon has inaugurated the new Baluarte Bridge, which crosses the Baluarte River in the Sierra Madre mountain range in the north of the country. This 1.12km long bridge is 403m high at its central point over the steeply sloping ravine it spans, making it the highest cable-stayed structure in the world.

Serbia has managed to reduce the cost of building the Corridor 10 highway by €80 million. These funds will instead be used to pay for upgrades and improvements needed for the second section of the highway project, close to Neradovci. So far some 180km of the Corridor 10 highway has been built over a 40 month time frame. A further 150km of the highway has still to be built. Work on the Corridor 10 motorway is also being financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the state budget.

The tender has now been published by the Israel National Roads Company for the upgrade to Road No 85, a project expected to cost US$134.2 million (500 million NIS). The work includes widening and building an interchange on Roads No 85, which along with improvements to Road No 65 forms a key component of the Netivei Israel plan.

Reports suggest that up to 1 in 7 vehicles (14%) on US roads may be uninsured. Based on vehicle population figures this indicates that over 37 million vehicles are being used illegally.

Contractor Bechtel has worked with Network Rail to complete a major road bridge upgrade in the UK. A construction team worked 104 hours consecutively to replace the bridge, located at Reading Station.

With China slated to be the world’s biggest market for auto sales and exports by 2025, and demand for electric vehicles expected to be the highest in emerging markets, global auto players should have a clearer vision of the way forward on issues critical to the industry.

China’s Standardisation Administration is now giving its approval for new legislation covering charging of electric vehicles. The legislation is for issued four sections of the Electric Vehicle Charging Interface and Communication Protocol Standards.

Work is now commencing on a new highway megaproject in China. The 204km highway will be built in China’s Hebei Province and will cost around US$4.09 billion to construct.

Austrian construction firm STRABAG has won a major road contract from Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Highways (GDDKiA). The deal is for the construction of a 40km section of the S8 Expressway between Walichnowy and Sieradz Poùudnie, some 240km to the south west of capital Warsaw.

A new coalition of executives from blue chip companies in the US transportation and utility industries has come together to design a large-scale electric vehicle (EV) demonstration project that will help create a comprehensive national model for EV deployment.

The TRA 2012 transport event, being held in April in Athens, will provide a unique interactive opportunity for attendees to learn about Horizon 2020, the European Commission proposal for a new Research & Innovation Framework Programme which comes into force in January 2014. The transport component of this programme is worth €7.7 billion and delegates to TRA 2012 will be able to take part in a series of 13 strategic sessions covering all modes and tackling the entire spectrum of activities envisaged by the F

Work is now underway once more on a new bridge link connecting Laos with Thailand. The US$44 million project is being funded equally by the governments of both countries and work is expected to be complete in June 2013.