Skip to main content

Thomas Concrete Group “growing in the US and Europe”

The Swedish Thomas Concrete Group says it continues to grow in the United States, with the acquisition of three concrete plants in North and South Carolina, complementing the group’s network along the Atlantic coast. At the end of 2016, the Group also acquired three concrete plants in northern Poland. “Through strategic acquisitions in the US states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, Thomas Concrete Group has over the years achieved a strong position as a key supplier of ready-mixed concre
February 17, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The New Zealand government has confirmed that it is considering the introduction of open road tolling in Auckland.

Finance minister Steven Joyce told a business audience the government could support tolling but would not support a regional fuel tax.

He said, “There is no getting away from the fact that central Auckland is built on a narrow isthmus which makes it hard to get around – and the available land transport corridors are rapidly being used.

“So beyond the current building programme we are going to have to look at demand management to reduce the reliance on the road corridors, in favour of buses, trains and ferries.”

Joyce said the government is developing a work programme to look at demand management tools including electronic road tolling in the medium to long term. It would expect that any road pricing initiative on existing motorways and highways would predominantly be a replacement for petrol taxes and road user charges not in addition to them.

He said the government was keen to have a more detailed discussion about demand management tools and explore further options for longer term funding for new infrastructure, including the use of private finance for certain projects.

Related Content

  • Evolving Australia's truck weighing programme
    March 1, 2013
    Regulating heavy truck weight isn’t all about sensors in the road… this year marks a significant point in the progression of Australia’s Intelligent Access Programme as its administrators attempt to answer the scheme’s critics. Jon Masters reports. Australia’s Intelligent Access Programme (IAP), the country’s telematics-based system of reg­ulating movement of the heaviest vehicles, is now five years old. The IAP is administered by Transport Certification Australia (TCA) whose general manager for strategic d
  • Airborne traffic monitoring - the future?
    March 1, 2013
    A new frontier in the quest to monitor road traffic is opening up… but using airborne drones to reduce the jams comes with some thorny issues. Chris Tindall reports. Imagine if you could rely on a system that provided all the data you needed to regulate traffic flow, route vehicles and respond swiftly to emergencies for a fraction of the cost of piloting a helicopter. That system exists, but as engineers and traffic managers start to explore the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – more commonly k
  • Reason Foundation makes a case for more toll lanes in southern California
    November 24, 2015
    S public policy think tank the Reason Foundation has unveiled a detailed long-range transportation plan to reduce the traffic congestion that has plagued southern California for decades. The Reason Foundation plan would decrease southern California’s infamous gridlock by creating a connected network of variably priced toll lanes on all of the region’s major highways and expressways
  • Hydrogen: transportation's silver bullet?
    June 22, 2021
    As the quest for carbon-neutrality becomes a key political and economic driver, everyone is on the lookout for new sources of energy - so perhaps hydrogen’s time has come