News

Consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff is now carrying out National Road Traffic Census counts across England, Scotland and Wales on behalf of the Department for Transport. This contract almost doubles the company’s previous activity in this area and it will now be managing 1,500 people to undertake over 6,000 traffic count surveys/year. The company is also introducing new le technology to this role and will be trialling a new in-house traffic survey iPad ‘app’. The firm is working closely with the Department for

One of four young talented transport researchers will be presented with the 2014 Young Researcher of the Year Award in the presence of transport ministers from around the world at the International Transport Forum at the OECD’s 2014 Summit in Leipzig, Germany, on 21 May 2014. The jury’s final shortlist for the prestigious award includes Spain’s Francesc Soriguera who is nominated for examining whether real time information on travel time is helpful for drivers. His results show that this information is on

The Philippines Government is unveiling 15 key infrastructure projects worth a total of US$14 billion over the next 12 months. These will form part of the PPP project programme proposed by the Philippines Government. The projects include the $1.44 billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project and the $313.16 million Motor Vehicle Inspection System. Meanwhile the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will be allocated a healthy $38.56 billion for road maintenance and repair activities by the gove

A budget of US$5 billion has been set for road construction, maintenance and modernisation projects in Mexico during 2014. The programme has been set out by the Secretariat of Transport and Communications (SCT), which published 2,191 tenders by March 2014 and expects 80% of resources to be tendered by May 2014. The projects include the Indios Verdes-Santa Clara viaduct, works to 300km of rural and agricultural roads in Quintana Roo and pavement restoration in Benito Juarez. Also included are the Mexico-Pue

The Italian road safety association, Asaps, has released data showing a worrying increase in hit and run incidents in the country. The figures show that there were 653 deaths from hit and run crashes on Italian roads between 2008 and 2013. The percentage of crashes attributed to the use of alcohol and drugs decreased from 43.8% in 2008 to 20.6% in 2013. But crashes caused by foreign drivers grew from 78 in 2008 to 137 in 2013. Hit and run crashes increased from 323 to 973 cases.

Caterpillar has carried out an official renaming ceremony for the Chinese operation formerly titled Shandong Engineering Machinery Co. It is now called Caterpillar (Qingzhou) Co. The Qingzhou facility will be used to produce the Caterpillar-branded 950GC wheeled loader at present) and SEM-branded products at the plant. Caterpillar will carry out a dual brand (Caterpillar and SEM) strategy in China, so as to provide differentiated products to the Chinese users.

In Colombia work on the dual carriageway connecting Bogota and Buenaventura is now 40% complete. The link should be complete by the end of 2016. The Bogota-Girardot road is now opening, with excavation work still underway on the La Linea tunnel. The tunnel section of the project has been subject to delays arising from geological issues but when it is open, the tunnel will cut travel times and also improve safety over the existing route. The driving of the tunnel should be complete by September 2014 with the

The latest data available through Pan European safety body TISPOL reveals that road fatality levels have reduced in the Dublin Region in recent years. However, the information shows that pedestrians are still at risk. Since 2008, almost 40% fatal road traffic collisions involve pedestrian fatalities. A Casualty Reduction campaign has been run in the Dublin Region to tackle the problem. A key police strategy has been to improve pedestrian awareness of the dangers. Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid, head of Dub

The European Commission is allocating the first portion of funds dedicated to the EU transport network. This first tranche is worth some €12 billion. The funds will go towards innovation, inter-modality and inter-operability. CEF, the Connecting Europe Facility, will allocate €26 billion in the period from 2014 to 2020 for transport infrastructure.

Work is underway in Sri Lanka on a new bridge spanning the Kelani River. The Japan International Cooperation Agency is supplying funding worth some US$344.4 million for the bridge project, which is intended to improve transport connections to and from capital Colombo. The project is facing design challenges as the river is prone to flooding. As a result the design of the bridge features a thick deck and short towers, but without any piers. The 380m long structure will carry six lanes of traffic, with three

The Mott MacDonald Grontmij joint venture (MMG JV) is now working on the contract for the technical assurance role for the A160/A180 link to the Port of Immingham. The road project is located near Grimsby in the UK and is being developed by the Highways Agency as part of the national strategic road network improvement strategy. This is one of four schemes chosen for progression under the accelerated delivery programme and aims to reduce traffic congestion, cut journey times and increase safety. Works includ

Plans are in hand for a new link to Leeds Bradford International Airport in the UK. WSP and Parsons Brinckerhoff have been appointed by the Department for Transport (DfT) to carry out a study that will examine connectivity options to Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA). A Treasury report, Investing in Britain’s Future, has identified LBIA as one of six road congestion hotspots that required further feasibility studies. The study team undertake research to identify and appraise potential intervention