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Turkey’s Eurasia tunnel, which links the European peninsula with the motorway network on the Asian side, has opened to traffic. The 5.4km long two-story tunnel, which is expected to alleviate Istanbul’s heavy congestion, aims to cut the travel time between the two sides of Istanbul by 85 minutes to only 15 minutes. Around 120,000 cars and light vehicles are expected to travel through the tunnel each day. The project also includes the construction of an additional 10km of access roads, two toll plazas

Honda R&D the R&D subsidiary of Honda Motor is entering into formal discussions with Alphabet’s Waymo, with a view to integrating its self-driving technology with Honda vehicles. This technical collaboration between Honda researchers and Waymo's self-driving technology team would allow both companies to learn about the integration of Waymo's fully self-driving sensors, software and computing platform into Honda vehicles. As part of the discussion on technical collaboration, Honda could initially prov

The Governors of Colorado, Utah and Nevada are to work together over the next year to develop complementary plans for building an electric vehicle charging network across key highway corridors in their states. The corridors will include Interstates 70, 76 and 25 across Colorado; Interstates 70, 80 and 15 across Utah; and Interstates 80 and 15 across Nevada. In total, the charging network will connect more than 2,000 miles of highway. This regional electric charging station network aims to address rang

The Toronto Parking Authority has launched its Green P Mobile App payment option across all Toronto streets, enabling customers to pay for parking via their smartphone. The app also delivers reminders before parking sessions expire and gives customers the ability to extend their parking sessions remotely. For even further convenience, the Green P app now includes the option of using PayPal to pay for a parking session. The Green P app was first introduced in March 2015 to non-gated off-street park

A Videalert CCTV-based ANPR system has been installed at the University of Hertfordshire to control rising bollards at two main entrances to the De Havilland Campus at Hatfield. The installation has been completed by Eurovia Infrastructure (a Vinci Group Company) on behalf of Ringway, a provider of highway maintenance services to local authorities under the seven-year Hertfordshire Term Contract. The new system will provide a safe pedestrian area within the busy campus which houses over 2700 members of st

Local authorities in the UK are set to get the power to fine motorists for moving traffic offences. Control over the issuing of fines is set to move from the police, to local councils, should the proposals be approved next year. Currently, London boroughs are able to fine motorists for similar offences, while councils outside of London can only fine motorists over parking violations or for driving in bus lanes. However under the new plans, councils across the country will gain the power to issue fines fo

In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Michael Baker International is to provide construction services for the improvement of Freedom Road, a major roadway that connects the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, Interstate 79 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike to State Route 65 (SR 65). PennDOT recently awarded the company a US$4.9 million contract to provide construction management and inspection services for phases one and two of the multi-year project. As part of the c

Finnish contactless ticketing and RFID tag supplier Confidex is to supply Lahti city’s public transport committee LSL, Lahden Seudun Liikenne, with smart tickets for the LAHTI2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, which take place in the city from 22 February-5 March 2017. The tickets are compatible with the Confidex Waltti travel card system, already in use in 13 cities in Finland and in three countryside transportation areas and planned to be rolled out across Finland as a whole by 2018. The ski

A report from the UK Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has called for greater on track competition on long distance rail routes. It says the UK’s transport authorities have been resistant to open access competition on passenger routes. Open access operators are train companies that run services over similar routes and are not subject to franchising agreements. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has reported that where open access operates in the UK, such as the East Coast Mainline, passen

The Ohio River Bridges East End Crossing, now named the Lewis and Clark Bridge, has opened to traffic to connect SR 265 in Indiana with the Gene Snyder Freeway in Kentucky, marking the substantial completion of the $2.3 billion Louisville Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project, which included the Downtown Crossing, now named the Abraham Lincoln Bridge. Parsons was the lead partner in the Community Transportation Solutions joint venture (JV). The JV served as the overall project’s general engineerin

BlackBerry has unveiled its BlackBerry QNX Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Centre (AVIC). Housed within the BlackBerry QNX facility in Ontario, Canada, the centre aims to accelerate the progress of connected and self-driving vehicles by developing production-ready software independently and in collaboration with partners in the private and public sector. As part of this initiative, BlackBerry QNX plans to recruit and hire local software engineers to work on ongoing and emerging engineering projects for co

The rising popularity of mobility services such as car sharing, rental and leasing is stoking significant interest in keyless access systems, according to Frost & Sullivan research. Following the saturation of radio frequency technology, Bluetooth low energy (BLE), biometrics and near-field communication (NFC) are poised to emerge as the next wave of wireless technologies in the automotive industry. This evolution from legacy vehicle access system to advanced access systems opens the market to specialist co

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has been looking at stretches of the UK’s strategic road network that would most benefit from Government investment following the Chancellor’s commitment in his Autumn Statement to fund improvements to congestion hot spots. Philip Hammond said the Government would spend IS$1.6 billion (£1.3 billion) on improving England’s roads, including US$222 million (£220 million) on tackling congestion at pinch points and US$33 million (£27 million) on an expressway connecting Ox

The industrial and commercial sector is the largest part of the electric vehicle value market and that will continue to be the case according to analysis in the IDTechEx report, Industrial and Commercial Electric Vehicles 2017-2027. Buses are the largest part of that and they are mainly made in China for China, where typical orders are ten times the size of orders elsewhere. Less dramatically, construction, mining and agriculture do not see 70 per cent grants for EV versions yet they are steadily becomin

An informal meeting in Whitehall is due to take place early in 2017, according to the Guardian, in which ministers and officials will tell mobile companies that ‘drive safe’ modes, similar to the airplane mode that has become standard, must be included in basic software ahead of a broader crackdown on illegal mobile phone use on the roads. In spring 2017, the fixed penalty for using a mobile phone while driving without a hands-free device will double to US$248 (£200). The fixed penalty notice will increa