News

The Canadian province of British Columbia has given environmental approval for a 10-lane US$2.8 billion bridge to replace the ageing George Massey Tunnel near Vancouver. However, approval for the 3km cable stay bridge over the Fraser River comes with 33 conditions, according to Canadian media. Construction of the toll bridge will also mean replacing the interchanges of Westminster Highway, Steveston Highway and Highway 17A.

South Korea has announced a programme of works that will see the country’s national road network being extended by over 900km. The budget of US$6.41 billion for the work has been set by the South Korean Government. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has drawn up the plans for the work which will include upgrades and extensions to 73 stretches of road in all. During the first six months of 2017 around 60% of the budget should be used for the necessary road construction activity. One of the ma

A highway construction project in the Czech Republic is attracting strong interest, with 10 bids having been received during the tender process. The project is being managed by the state-owned road management firm RSD and is worth €255.21 million. The work involves building a 10 km stretch of the D1 connecting Prerov with Rikovice and this will be the largest road tender in the Czech Republic during 2017. According to RSD, the bids have largely come from consortia that combine large foreign contractors with

Kanoo Machinery (Kanoo), Manitowoc’s long-standing distribution partner in the Middle East, has been awarded the Manitowoc Cranes Elite Dealer status for its Saudi Arabian operations. The firm’s facility in Saudi Arabia is one of only four dealerships to receive this designation in the Middle East. The Elite Dealer award recognises dealers that excel in their parts and services standards, raising those standards at an international level. Many factors contributed to Kanoo winning the award, in particula

Slovakia’s D4/R7 zero bypass of Bratislava has picked up the Best Transaction in Europe award given by the UK magazine Project Finance International. The Ministry of Transport and Construction received the award in London in early February. The ministry said that the contract is notable for being the first whereby a project had combined funding from European Union investment and structural funds and the EU fund for strategic investment. World Highways reported in January that construction will start early

Traffic volumes in the UK have hit record levels. This has been shown by new provisional figures from the Department for Transport (DfT). In the year ending December 2016 car traffic increased by 0.7% to a record high of 399.2 billion vehicle km and HGV traffic grew by 2.8% overall to 27.4 billion vehicle km. The report suggests that this rise is partly due to the growth in the economy as well as lower fuel prices. Provisional estimates suggest that both ‘A’ roads and motorways experienced the highest l

The IRF is inviting applications for its 2017 IRF Global Road Achievement Awards. Founded in 2000, the IRF's Global Road Achievement Awards competition recognises exceptional projects across 12 categories. The application deadline is April 11th, 2017 and winners will be recognized at the 5th IRF Middle East Regional Congress & Exhibition, to be held October 29th-31st in Dubai, UAE.

SWARCO Traffic is teaming up with the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) to sponsor professional training. The firm is sponsoring the IHE Professional Certificate in Traffic Signal Control. This two-part course is designed to boost the knowledge and understanding of traffic control schemes for industry professionals. The sponsorship is helping cut the cost for delegates to attend the course, which is being held at NAL, Worcester. The aim of this is to encourage more within the industry to attend. Part

LiuGong has won a key quality management award for Asia. The firm was presented with the award at the 14th Congress of Asia Network for Quality (ANQ) held in Vladivostok, Russia . The award was the ANQ Recognition for Excellence in Quality Practice (ARE-QP) Award, the highest award in quality management in Asia. Launched in 2011, the award aims to recognise good quality practices among ANQ organisations. LiuGong is the first company from Chinese construction equipment industry to win the award. Tan Wei,

Kijlstra is supplying the A1 Leeming to Barton Improvement Scheme in the UK with one of the largest orders it has ever received for its precast square manholes. The Highways England scheme is being delivered by the Carillion Morgan Sindall joint venture. Once completed the scheme will unlock growth and boost the economy by creating a continuous motorway-standard route between London and Newcastle (including the M1 and A1M). It will also improve journey times and increase safety. As part of this proje

Industry confidence – at least for the near future - is supported by performance of the European market, according to the latest CECE Barometer. Stable development at high levels in northern and western Europe underpins a continuing yet slowing recovery in southern Europe and fairly weak growth in Central and Eastern Europe. There are around 350 global OEMs operating in Europe and more than 85% of their worldwide production is done in this region. Half of these 350 OEMs have all their production in Europe.

Industrie 4.0 is the common term for digitally connecting business processes from top to bottom within an organisation, including external site and logistics work. Industry 4.0 imagines a much more rapid digital transformational cycle with exponential levels of disruption, as opposed to the current linear trajectory. This shift will be driven by a blurring of and interactions between currently disparate technology fields, leading to total digitisation and automation of certain workflows. Key aspects include