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August 12, 2015
Major new traffic signal maintenance contract awarded in Scotland
Glasgow City Council and West Dunbartonshire Council have awarded a joint contract to Siemens to maintain roadside traffic control and information equipment for a period of up to five years, commencing 1 August 2015. The new contract includes the provision of associated ancillary support services, as well as the supply of works and services to support the Councils’ traffic control operation and periodical planned signal and optical maintenance, With equipment at over 500 traffic signal intersections and
August 12, 2015
Morocco: Saint-Gobain acquires mortar factory
Saint-Gobain Morocco has acquired a mortar factory in Dar Bouâzza in south-western Casablanca, following the purchase of a Spanish SME. The 3,000m² factory is on a space of 10,000m². At the outset ten jobs will be created due to the group's automation strategy.
August 11, 2015
Evaluation of machine vision market in Italy
The European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) has published its 2015 market report, Machine Vision in Italy, which evaluates the machine vision market in the country for the first time. It covers the vision industry, its customers and the main applications as well as technical and commercial trends. In addition, the network for machine vision is described, including clusters, research centers and associations, trade shows and special magazines, supplemented by market and growth drivers and an estimate
August 11, 2015
Munich plans cycle highways
The German city of Munich is to carry out a feasibility study into the use of cycle highways connecting the city centre with the suburbs and surrounding region, in an effort to reduce the difficulty and duration of long-distance journeys across Munich. The new infrastructure, which is expected to be four metres wide, would be used solely for cycling, allowing cyclists to travel comfortably in both directions. Around 14 routes are planned, all between 5 and 15 kilometres in length. The pilot is expecte
August 11, 2015
Sri Lanka launches new highway traffic management system
Sri Lanka has recently opened the new highway traffic management system (HTMS), implemented by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, (MHI) on the country’s Southern Expressway. The installation is the country's first full-scale system of its kind, and it is expected to contribute significantly to improved safety and reduced congestion on a local expressway. The expressway, which opened in 2013, stretches 120 kilometres from Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka, to Matara. Construction work was performed under
August 11, 2015
International bridge opens new toll lanes, upgrades system
The Sault Ste Marie International Bridge, which connects Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, is opening new toll lanes and upgrading its system with new software and new frequent user discounts. The International Bridge Authority (IBA) began opening the new lanes this week as part of a US$7 million project undertaken in coordination with the Mackinac Bridge Authority and the Michigan portion of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. The toll software upgrades, which are necessary be
August 11, 2015
Off road trials for electric highways technology
Following the completion of the feasibility study commissioned by Highways England into dynamic wireless power transfer technologies, off road trials of the technology needed to power electric and hybrid vehicles on England’s major roads are due to take place later this year. The trials are the first of their kind and will test how the technology would work safely and effectively on the country’s motorways and major A roads, allowing drivers of ultra-low emission vehicles to travel long distances without
August 10, 2015
Creating the world’s first sustainable highway
The Mission Zero Corridor Project in West Georgia, US, believes that it is possible to have a ‘green highway’. To this end, it has appointed breakthrough innovation consultancy Innovia Technology to help create a ‘travel corridor’ and rethink the purpose and function of this infrastructure to generate social, environmental and economic value. The project aims to be a fitting legacy for the late Ray C. Anderson, ‘the greenest CEO and founder of Interface, the global manufacturer of modular carpet. A
August 10, 2015
Update on Royal Imtech
Further to its recent press releases, Royal Imtech has announced that negotiations with its financiers have not resulted in an agreement on additional financing. Royal Imtech will continue to evaluate the situation and its consequences and is considering options to preserve as much of the group as possible and will update the market as soon as possible if and when further decisions are made.
August 10, 2015
Q-Free awarded free flow toll extension in Portugal
Portuguese motorways operator Ascendi has awarded Q-Free a US$19 million contract for the renewal and extension of service and maintenance of several of the Ascendi multi-lane free flow toll (MLFF) concessions for a further six years. Ascendi is said to be the largest European private operator, providing automatic vehicle classification of four vehicle classes including HGVs and light passenger vehicles. The company has 128 collection points installed and processes around one million transactions per da
August 10, 2015
Siemens electrifies Scottish businesses
Siemens has installed electric vehicle (EV) charge points for businesses across Scotland, including Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen, SGM Distribution and Edinburgh College. The company’s new and comprehensive range of Transport Scotland-compliant charging points includes AC chargers that provide both single and three phase charging via single or dual outlets, and can be floor standing, pole or wall mounted. Also included in the range is a triple outlet, multi-standard, rapid charging station
August 7, 2015
Infrastructure projects to drive the construction industry in Norway
According to a recent report by Timetric’s Construction Intelligence Center (CIC), Norway’s construction industry will continue to expand over the coming five years, with investment in transport infrastructure projects continuing to drive growth. Under the government’s fourth National Transport Plan (NTP) 2014–2023, a series of infrastructure projects will be launched with an investment of around US$86.5 billion. The Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has proposed total investment in th
August 7, 2015
Brake, IAM concerned at government figures on UK drink-drive habit
Brake, the road safety charity, and the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), have responded to the latest government figures which they say show Britain is still failing to adequately tackle its drink drive problem. A final estimate shows 240 people were killed by drivers over the legal drink drive limit in 2013, while provisional estimates suggest at least that number were killed in 2014. However, the number of people seriously injured in drink drive crashes did fall by eight per cent to 1,100 from 20
August 7, 2015
Uber ‘running at a loss’
Leaked financial reports appear to indicate that car-share firm Uber is operating at a loss. According to internal financial documents obtained by the Gawker website (link http://gawker.com/here-are-the-internal-documents-that-prove-uber-is-a-mo-1704234157), Uber has lost tens of millions of dollars since 2012, and the documents suggest that CEO Travis Kalanick’s boasts about the company’s exponential revenue growth may be overblown. Gawker published images of the leaked documents online; an unaudited re
August 7, 2015
World Congress hosts ITS Hackathon
Co-organised by Ertico-ITS Europe, the MobiNET European project and Michelin Bibendum Challenge, in partnership with the eSafety Aware European project and FIA, the ITS Hackathon take places at the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux, from Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 October 2015. Academics, start-ups, app developers and service providers are invited to come up with new ideas and apps for mobility services using the different components of the MobiNET e-marketplace, the mobility services developed in MobiNET and