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The Russian highway authorities intend to invest a massive €16.78 billion (US$24.23 billion) in road construction and repairs during 2011. This investment will come from federal and regional budgets and represents a 40% increase over spending made in 2010. The plans involve repairs to 5,500km of road surface at a cost of €2.11 billion ($3.046 billion).

Recently (18th-19th October), over 180 road research experts met in Brussels to discuss more than 25 road research projects. Experts from Europe, the USA, Australia, India, Japan and South Africa discussed the themes of Resources, Recycling and Alternative Materials (on the first day) and Implementation (on the second day) using the road research projects as case studies. The event opened with the final conference of the DIRECT-MAT project to share knowledge and practices on DIsmantling and RECycling Techni

Italy’s construction equipment manufacturer’s association says that 2010 was a tough year for its members. During 2010 equipment sales in Italy dropped 5.3% from 2009, itself a bad year. This data comes from a survey by research specialist Cribis D&B, which investigated the sector for Unacea. The Italian construction equipment manufacturers say that machine sales were worth some €2.3 million in the period, a drop of 47% compared to the peak year 2008. As regards the different sub-sectors, earthmoving machin

The Hyundai ix35 fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) has been selected by the European Commission-backed Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) to be used as a demonstration vehicle to test and promote hydrogen fuel cell technology in a real-world environment.As part of the announcement made yesterday at the FCH JU-organised "Joint Technology Initiatives:

In Kosovo, work is pushing ahead of schedule on the Route 7 highway to link capital Pristina with the Albanian border. Sections of the 120km highway have been opened, one year ahead of schedule. An official opening of several sections of the highway has been carried out by Kosovan leaders, including Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, President Atifete Jahjaga, and members of Parliament, along with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and US representatives Eliot Engel (D- NY) and Gary Peters (D-MI) joined thousan

City CarShare, a non-profit organisation, in collaboration with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), will implement the city's first on-street car sharing demonstration and research project as part of a six-month pilot programme. Eleven on-street parking spaces will be implemented

The latest official data shows a continuing improvement in road safety statistics in both France and the UK. However the data also reveals worrying trends in accidents concerning vulnerable road users. Department for Transport figures for 2010 have revealed a 17% drop in road fatalities to 1,850. But 111 pedal cyclists died in 2010, compared with 104 in 2009, with cyclist fatalities in capital London of particular concern. The DfT believes that the severe winter weather, lower traffic in general due to th

Construction began earlier this week of the last section of the US$630.30million D8 motorway through the Ceske Stredohori mountain range in the Czech Republic. The geological survey on the 12.7km road has been under way since 23 April, 2012. The D8 project is expected to be completed by early 2015.

TomTom has announced the availability of its latest map and enhancement product portfolio, delivering new coverage and features. With the addition of 400,000 kilometres across the globe, the company claims its navigable map database is the first to reach 35.2 million kilometres of roads, covering 104 countries and a record 3.4 billion people worldwide.

For the third consecutive year, the number of deer-vehicle collisions in the US has dropped. And the downturn is accelerating. The percentage decline over the last year is nearly three times as large as during the previous two years combined. Using its claims data, leading US auto insurer State Farm, estimates 1.09 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the US between 1 July, 2010 and 30 June, 2011.

Paul Yarossi, the president of HNTB Holdings, has been elected 2011-12 chairman of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The election was announced during the association's national convention, held October 2-5 in Monterey, CA. Yarossi serves on HNTB's board of directors and is responsible for overseeing and directing the firm's governance, capitalization strategy, compliance and audit functions, as well as its external and government relations.

EbpSource, a provider of high volume e-billing and payment solutions, worldwide has announced its involvement in helping the Canadian Tolling Company International (407 ETR) to go live with a dynamic new customer self-service portal. 407 ETR manages Toronto's 407 Highway, a 108 km barrier-free toll highway that uses video cameras and vehicle-mounted transponders to record an average of 380,000 workday trips which are then processed and billed to customers.

Technology features that use sensors to watch around the vehicle have become common on luxury vehicles in recent years, but now availability is spreading to the mainstream higher-volume segments such as the Ford Focus and Mercedes B-Class. Camera image analysis continues to get more powerful and radar sensors are getting cheaper, with Lidar and ultrasonics still in the mix.

In Nepal a 159m long suspension bridge spanning the Trishuli River has collapsed, killing two and injuring 17 while five people are posted as missing. Meanwhile in neighbouring India, an old wooden bridge spanning the Rangit River has collapsed killing 32, injuring 70 and leaving 35 missing. A significant portion of those killed, injured or missing are Nepali speaking tea workers.

Colombia's Transport Ministry has announced that the contract for the second La Linea tunnel will be put out to tender before the end of 2011. The contract will be one of a number of infrastructure projects worth a total of US$2.41 billion, which will be put out to tender soon. Most of the contracts planned for tendering are for road projects. Colombia has been investing heavily in upgrading its infrastructure in a bid to develop the country's economy by boosting its transport connections.

Austrian traffic systems manufacturer Swarco Group expects to record a turnover growth of double digits to €465 million (US$643.96 million) in 2011, after a turnover of €409.7 million in 2010.

Transport Ministers from 53 countries have agreed a ‘common declaration’ to improve global transport connectivity. The formal declaration text, in which ministers agree that the “seamless transport is a powerful and ambitious strategic vision for the future of transport systems”, was approved at the Annual Summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF) in Leipzig, Germany. The declaration also states that seamless transport “drives the development of better mobility and sustainable economic growth”, an

Professor José Manuel Viegas has been chosen as Secretary-General-elect of the International Transport Forum. Ministers from the 53 member countries of the Forum agreed to appoint Viegas, an intergovernmental organisation within the OECD family that acts as a global transport policy think tank, during their Annual Summit in Leipzig, Germany. Viegas, from Portugal, is expected to take up office this summer, taking over from Michael Kloth of Germany, who led the Forum as acting secretary-General since Novem

Swedish-based firm Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) reports stronger-than-expected increases in demand from customers in Europe and North America. The firm says that this performance has helped boost third quarter sales. Steady sales in many markets having a positive impact on financial performance. Net sales in the three months of July-September rose by 18% to US$2.28 billion, compared with $1.94 billion in the same period last year and when adjusted for currency movements, net sales increased by 27

Special fabrics are often used in civil engineering works, including highways, to make soil stronger Geosynthetics have been used in roadway construction for thousands of years with natural materials being mixed with soil to improve quality and stability. While today's products are much more sophisticated, the principles are the same. For example, when used with soil, geotextiles (permeable fabrics) can filter, separate, reinforce, protect, or drain, and they are often made from polypropylene or polyester,