News

A major milestone has been achieved in New Zealand on a major road project that is intended to deal with a major traffic bottleneck in the city of Auckland. The launching gantry team has now installed the last segment of the new northbound viaduct, a key stage in the Newmarket Viaduct Replacement project. There is currently a 1.5m gap between the segments. So, on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th December the two viaducts will be cemented together in an 18 hour procedure known as the Stitch. From then until the e

Costs are climbing for Catalonia’s Eix de la Conreria highway project in Spain. The B-500 project is now expected to cost €400 million, a jump of €30 million from the previous estimate made just six months ago. The new link will connect Barcelona with Baix Maresme and Valles and the start of work on the project is also now expected to be delayed until 2012. The project requires the construction of four lanes with two running in either direction and is at present in the design and environmental assessment s

The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) is introducing new rules that boost fines for companies that delay road works. The fines jump by a factor of ten from £2,500/day (€2,775/day) to £25,000/day (€27,750/day).

According to a Belgian police report, speed cameras cannot read licence plates correctly in the dark unless they are near to street lights. The report follows tests carried out between 10 and 21 January 2010 on the two most commonly used speed cameras in Belgium. The report also found that speed cameras are able to read yellow licence plates with black lettering more easily than other types of plates, such as the white plate with white background and red letters chosen by Belgium.

Nissan North America is bringing an innovative, low-cost DC quick charger for electric cars to the US market as part of a global collaboration with Sumitomo Corporation, with the first installations planned for early 2012. The companies also announced that they are looking to Nissan North America's preferred home charging station partner AeroVironment to be their wholesale and retail distributor, as well as the preferred provider for US installation services.

A report by Norway’s Public Roads Administration (Vegvesenet) indicates that a large proportion of the country’s trunk roads have either bad or very bad surfacing. The data shows that one-third of the country’s trunk road network is in poor condition and requires repair.

The INTERMAT 2012 equipment exhibition in Paris looks to be a strong event, with 90% of the space already sold for the show. Positive growth is forecast, with worldwide growth in the construction machinery and equipment sector. The forecasts for 2011 are more favourable than for 2010 and show that the sector is recovering its dynamism, according to the organisers. Growth is anticipated to reach some 11% this year. Emerging regions such as China, India and Latin America record sustained growth. More than 200

Roads in the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, are set for a major upgrade following £364.6 million (E404 million) of government funding. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding will allow the Isle of Wight Council to carry out vital improvements and maintenance to local roads over 25 years including road surface improvement and maintenance; footway and cycleway improvement; maintenance on bridges and other structures; upgrades to traffic signals, signs, street nameplates and road marking

A debate is now underway regarding the fate of the existing Forth Road Bridge in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. A new Forth Replacement Bridge is being planned at a cost of some €2.64 billion and once this opens, it will carry heavy vehicles, which will not be allowed over the current bridge. Excessive loading and corrosion have taken their toll on the current bridge, although measures to halt the cable corrosion in this suspension bridge have now been taken.

Some 3,411km of highways in India’s Karnataka State will be upgraded over the next three years. The state authorities have given approval to the work, which is expected to cost up to US$420 million. Funding will be provided jointly by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The authorities have set a target for the construction of 20km/day of highway by 2013 and 2014. A Traffic and Transit Management Centre will be built at Hebbal by Ramky Infrastructure.