News

The Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) plans to announce over 30 tenders for road investments during the first half of 2009. GDDKiA's budget for 2009 is estimated at €7.68 billion. Among others, a tender will be called for the construction of a ring road around the Polish town of Krasnik and for the construction of the S19 road from Miedzyrzec Podlaski to Lubartow, which will also include the construction of two ring roads around Kocek and around Wola Skromowska. GDDKiA is

The UK Department for Transport has commissioned a consortium led by TRL, with MVA Consultancy, ITS Leeds, Simon Christmas, SHM and ARUP as partners, to undertake an integrated programme of research assessing a wide range of road user safety issues in relation to cycling. The study will encompass following four elements: analysis of cycling activity and collision data, international review of literature and survey of local authorities; qualitative research with cyclists and other road users; review of infra

New guidelines have been introduced to improve how the Highways Agency (HA) and emergency services work together. Under the guidelines, part of a Government strategy to reduce the US$1.5billion (£1bn) cost of motorway incidents, the police, fire and ambulance services and the HA have signed up to the CLEAR booklet - drawn up by Agency to tackle congestion caused by lane closures. Launched last year by Roads Minister Mike Penning, The CLEAR (Collision, Lead, Evaluate, Act, Reopen) initiative aims to get tra

The International Transport Forum has announced plans for Forum 2009 to be held in Leipzig on 26-29 May, 2009 on the theme of ‘Transport for a Global Economy: New Challenges and Opportunities.’ At the forum, Ministers of Transport will be meeting with key leaders from industry, the research sector and civil society to discuss the challenges of globalisation for the transport sector of trade and consider what transport can do to respond to the needs for global economic and social development today.

The British Cement Association (BCA) has welcomes the agreement reached between the European Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, and the European Commission on the energy and climate change package. Dr Pal Chana, BCA chief executive, said: “Our biggest fear was that in the rush to get a deal under the French Presidency, industry would be left behind and critical sectors such as cement would be exposed to unfair international competition that simply moved manufacturing to non-carbon constrained c

The Swedish Road Administration (Vägverket) says preliminary figures that point to a lower level of road fatalities in Sweden in 2008. The data suggests accident levels could be at the lowest level since the 1930s. About 400 people were killed on Swedish roads in 2008 until 18th December, compared with 457 during the same period 2007. Some six fatalities were reported to the Administration during the Christmas period ending 26th December, compared with an average 10. The main reason for the lower fatality r

Work is in hand for a new Formula 1 racetrack in Moscow. The facility will be built by Strategiya and will be located close to Volokolamsk. The facility will be designed to hold up to 100,000 spectators. Parking for 10,000 cars will be built although this could be increased if required. Contractor Avtoban will build the track itself while Stroytekh will construct buildings and structures and Siemens/PKE will equip the track with the necessary electronic. The project is costing some US$151 million.

Spain’s General Traffic Office (DGT) reported a 20.4% drop in the number of deaths in traffic accidents during 2008. The number of people killed on the country’s roads fell to 2,180 in 2008 compared with 2,471 in 2007. On average around six people/day die on Spain’s roads and the government is keen to continue with its measures to reduce this figure further. Actions taken so far include the introduction of a new driving licence points system, more speed cameras, awareness campaigns and an increased police p

The Inzhtransstroj Building Corporation is reported as having delivered three modernised routes for regular use in Russia: two sections of the M-9 federal carriageway in Tversk district, a section of the Amur federal express line (from Chita to Khabarovsk) and the Kirov-Kotlas-Arkhangelsk route. The corporation’s contract portfolio contains around 20 road construction projects valued at E1.3 billion. In addition to construction of the Amur route, the company is currently working in Tversk, Lipec, Moscow and

The Hungarian national motorway company Nemzeti Infrastruktura Fejleszto (NIF) is planning to spend €3.02 billion on rail and road infrastructure projects during this year. Key highway projects include the construction works on 51 trunk road sections, 14 highway sections and there will also be six rail infrastructure projects. The total length of new rail and road infrastructure will extend for a total of 865km. Construction works will be carried out on the M0 ring road, on the M3, M6, M9 and M43 highways a

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is appraising an application for the financing of several highway sections that the Slovak government has decided to build under a public-private partnership (PPP) programme. A consortium of environmental and energy focused NGOs has been making its case about “the troubling implications of these projects.”

Measures are to be taken by Skanska to adapt to an anticipated decline in activities in the Nordic area. The measures are expected to affect 2,000 employees in Sweden and 1,400 in the remainder of the Nordic region at a cost of approximately €56 million, says the company. In Skanska’s nine-month report for 2008, the group announced that several construction and residential development markets are weakening. A review of the current order backlog and anticipated order bookings has indicated a volume decline o