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A consortium led by Mott MacDonald and including WYG and Atkins has secured a major European Commission contract to help strengthen vital infrastructure work across the Western Balkans. The consortium will provide technical support as part of the Infrastructure Projects' Facility (IPF) of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). The IPF prepares priority infrastructure projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo. The

The Spanish Ministry of Development is considering nationalising the loss-making radial motorways in Madrid through state-owned company Seittsa. The plan would involve putting in place a toll-payment system to generate revenues to pay interests on debts and maintenance of the roads. The Ministry has already detected 600 locations where remote controlled payment systems could be installed in Madrid to charge those using the roads. The same plan includes a project to nationalise all motorways in Madrid at ris

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry of Japan is about to introduce a study panel to carry out in-depth discussions concerning a vehicle autopilot driving system. The system, which is aimed to be realised in the early 2020s, will apply to self-steering vehicles that feature their own navigation capability. The government intends to build special expressway lanes for such self-driving cars. After entering the designated lanes, the autonomous vehicle can take over the driving task entirely

The Indonesian Government has handed out contracts for the new Sunda Strait Bridge. Construction of the US$11 billion project is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2014. The preliminary work now starting includes a feasibility study and the first stages of the design process, with specialist consultants having been contracted for this work. The bridge will measure some 29km long and will connect Lampung in Sumatra and Merak in Java, crossing the Sunda Strait as its name suggests. The structure wil

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology, an existing Scania customer since 2008, has ordered 375 trucks which will be used as a platform for mobile concrete pumps. Said to be the world’s largest concrete machinery manufacturer, the company's largest mobile concrete pumps, which have a span up to 80 metres, are mounted on Scania’s 4- and 5-axle truck chassis with 6-cylinder 420-470 hp engines.

Nissan Motor Company and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport will begin an eight-month large-scale demonstration test in the city's Wangjing district to verify the effects of traffic dispersion by dynamic route guidance with IT devices.

According to the US-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) demand is strong already for stand space at the World of Asphalt and AGG1 2013 exhibition. The co-located expositions are more than 15% ahead of the 2012 show for the same time in the show cycle, with about 11 months to go until opening day. The World of Asphalt Show & Conference and AGG1 Aggregates Forum & Expo will be held March 19-21, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Centre. "Feedback has been overwhelmin

Research has revealed that traffic congestion in Belgium is worse than in other parts of Europe and North America. The ranking covers all North American and European countries. The study shows that Belgian capital Brussels and the Belgian city of Antwerp have severe congestion problems. Milan in northern Italy is the other European city suffering severe traffic congestion according to the research. In Brussels and Antwerp drivers face an average annual loss of 72 and 71 hours, respectively, in traffic jams.

Official data provided by Istat and ACI reveals an improvement in Italy’s road safety performance during 2011. According to the information released, fatal road accidents in Italy decreased to around 3,800, a drop of 7.1%. Meanwhile there were 205,000 accidents involving injuries in Italy, a drop of 3%. The rate of fatalities/million people was of 63, just above EU average, while the number of fatalities out of 100 accidents increased from 3.1 to 3.2 on motorways, and went from 5 to 4.8 on large roads and f

US Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) announced recently that House and Senate conferees are concluding a bicameral, bipartisan agreement on a major transportation bill. The measure focuses on unprecedented reforms by cutting red tape and consolidating federal transportation programmes. The tentative agreement establishes federal highway, transit and highway safety policy and keeps programmes at current funding levels through the end of fiscal year 2014. Unlike the last

Road Safety Foundation (RSF) director, Dr Joanne Marden, has urged the government to get road safety policies “back on track” after new official figures revealed the first annual UK road casualty increase for eight years. The figures, contained in a government report titled Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: 2011, show that the annual number of people killed in road accidents increased by 3% from 1,850 in 2010 to 1,901 in 2011 – the first increase since 2003 despite a levelling off of vehicle traff

Plans are moving ahead for New Zealand's Transmission Gully highway project. The country’s Environmental Protection Agency has given its final approval for the construction of the 27km Transmission Gully project, which is expected to cost in the region of US$732.4 million (NZ$930 million). The project will be the largest road deal in Wellington region since the late 1970s and one of the largest infrastructure projects in New Zealand.

The World Bank (WB) is providing funds worth US$60 million to help Nepal build and repair bridges. The money will be used to build 121 new bridges and maintain 426 existing bridges that provide connections on Nepal’s Strategic Road Network (SRN). This budget has been set under the WB’s lending mechanism, project for result (P4R). The sum will help Nepal tackle repairs to 89 bridges that are in need of urgent major maintenance and 95 that require minor maintenance. Road officials in Nepal are also setting ou