News

A recent Pan-European police operation to enforce laws on speeding has yielded major success. Over 720,000 drivers were detected breaking speed limits in the operation, which was co-orcinated by the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) in 28 countries. Of the 728,268 detections, 274,355 were made directly by police officers and 453,913 came from automatic speed detectors. Stopping drivers for speeding offences also provides police officers with the opportunity to make other safety and security checks. D

A series of upgrades are planned for the two bridges crossing the Bosporus at Istanbul. A series of structural renovation works will be carried out. The work is due for completion in 2014 and includes the replacement of 236 cable sections. The tender for the work is now open to entrants although it has been closed to consortia.

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen) plans to invest €10 billion (NOK 80 billion) in road building and tunnel upgrades from 2014-17, according to its new investment plan for the period. A further another €2.87 billion (NOK 23 billion) will be spent on pedestrian and cyclist safety measures. Veidekke, a Norwegian construction company, forecasts 2-3% annual growth in the Norwegian construction market in 2014, but with a flattening out of housing construction. It forecasts Sweden

The construction of a 74km road between Caracollo and Confital in Bolivia will cost around US$177 million, the country’s vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera has revealed. The contract for the project has been put out to tender. Companies have until 8 November 2013 to submit their proposals. The contract will be signed on 23 December 2013.

Road weight restrictions are not always adhered to in some countries

The US$396 million upgrade of the Tumba Muerto-Via Israel road in Panama City, including four flyovers and four tunnels to alleviate traffic jams, is expected to be completed by the end of December 2013. More than 630,000 drivers will benefit directly when section one of the scheme, costing $216 million, is inaugurated in 15 days. Section two, which is 80% complete, requires a $180 million investment and will benefit 250,000 drivers. It is expected to open at the end of October 2013. Meanwhile, minist

Contractor ÍAV has suspended its construction of a road through the Gálgahraun lava field in Iceland until the courts rule on whether or not the halted project can be completed. The suspension of the project was agreed with environmental protection group Hraunavinir ('Lava Friends'), which has pledged to continue its protest against the road. As part of the agreement reached with Hraunavnir, ÍAV will in the meantime work on other projects that won’t have an irreversible impact on the lava field.

Colombia's national infrastructure agency ANI will auction 13 road projects with a combined value of more than US$7.87 billion (COP 15 trillion) in H1 2014, out of 40 planned. Nine of the scheduled auction projects have gone through the pre-qualification stage and will be definitely awarded in the first quarter of next year. In total, all 40 projects will involve investments of COP 47tn. The plan is to improve 8,000kms of roads in the country.

The Spanish Road Association (FAEC) now opening its fifth International Award for Innovation in Highway Juan Antonio Fernández del Campo competition to entries. This biennial competition started in 2005 with the aim of promoting research and innovation in the road infrastructure sector. Spanish is used for the entrants as the language of international scientific reference. The prize can be awarded for various factors to a single person or teams of individuals, designers of projects, studies, for research or

The IRF is carrying out an online safety seminar on 27th September. This will be held at 11am US Eastern time. The seminar will highlight key issues such as maintenance tasks being carried out on high speed, high traffic volume roads at night. While these night time work zones do cause less traffic congestion due to the reduced traffic volumes, they can be very dangerous for both motorists and workers if they are not properly designed. Many traffic accidents happen at night due to drivers who are drinking o

The fourth and final section of the Milton-Madison Bridge in the US has now been demolished. This aged 740m long structure was no longer able to cope with the traffic volumes along the route and has been demolished to make way for a new bridge. The bridge connects the US states of Indiana and Kentucky and has provided a key traffic route for the busy US421 over the Ohio River for many years. In a rather innovative piece of engineering, the new bridge has been constructed alongside the old structure and even

The forthcoming 29th edition of Samoter, the Italy-based International Triennial earthmoving and building machinery exhibition, represents the perfect opportunity for Italian construction machine manufacturers to showcase their expertise to leading national and international industry figures. The keenly awaited show taking place alongside Alsphaltica in Verona from 8-11 May 2014 could provide a huge boost to the tough domestic Italian construction machine sales market while, also, boosting vital export l