News

Plans are in hand for major upgrades to Russia’s road network. Russian Highways (Avtodor) aims to construct 958km of roads, as well as to reconstruct 963km of road and improve 700km of road bed by 2019. The 684km M11 highway linking Moscow with St Petersburg is the top-priority. A 72km bypass road will be built in the Tver region. In total, Avtodor says it will invest US$45.3 billion in building tolled roads in Russia by 2019. Avtodor completed work on the 25km M-4 highway in December 2011. Meanwhile a tend

Germany’s Government intends to boost transportation infrastructure spending, with the majority of funds going towards roads. An increase of €1 billion will be targeted at transport with some 60% of that budget being used for improvements to the country’s road network. In contracts some 30% will be for port, canal and general shipping infrastructure with a mere 10% for rail investment. The German Government has also granted approval for work to the next stretch of the A44 autobahn. The new 7km link will run

Bosnia’s highway company Autoceste Federacije BiH will invest €500 million in the construction of the Corridor Vc road. The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a loan of €166 million to part finance the project. The plans call for the construction of the 56km highway as well as an additional 10km of the Sarajevo ringroad. The cost of the project is three times higher than any other that the country has so far planned. Autoceste Federacije BiH has said that it will finance land expropriation.

In a surprise move the Turkish authorities have now cancelled the tender process for the construction of the third Bosphorus Bridge and the Kuzey Marmara highway. The process was cancelled as there were no bidders.

A Chinese construction firm has managed to win a series of key highway contracts in China as well as overseas. The China Railways Group has contracts worth a total of US$1.58 billion in total for infrastructure projects.

The Brazilian authorities are looking to renegotiate contracts for a series of state road concessions that were auctioned up to 15 years ago. The intention is to improve the roads while cutting the rate of return for the concession holders, with controls on tariff rates to restrict price increases for users.

A joint venture comprising Impregilo and Astaldi is to handle a key road upgrade contract in Italy. The deal is worth some €791 million and will be carried out over a period of 92 months.

Following its December Forum on ITS for Urban Mobility, Ertico ITS Europe has published a 20-page report of the presentations from the high level speakers and participants from public authorities and industry given during the in-depth examination of the role and opportunities for ITS in urban mobility.

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.

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.