News

The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has scooped a prestigious Green Mind Award for the best Green Innovation project in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The project, Investigating Recycled Aggregate Materials in Construction, aimed to reduce the amount of solid waste accumulating in Qatar and MENA and provide a practical solution for a cheaper and sustainable aggregate supply into the region. As a result, the Qatar Construction Specifications have been updated and a recycling target has been

As a result of the public consultation to consider route options for the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, the proposed scheme has been developed in more detail and plans to toll the road have been dropped. Changes that have been made in response to feedback from last year’s consultation include improvements to four junctions on the route and an updated local access road been proposed between two villages. The Highways Agency has now launched a ten-week consultation period, which forms par

With its integrated transport information system (ITIS) in ruins and waiting to be sold for salvage, Kuala Lumpur’s government has awarded a contract to improve its traffic management. GTC Global won the US$62 million contract last year to bring ITIS back on track. The company was recently acquired by Telekom Malaysia. In 2002, a traffic surveillance system costing more than US$93 million was launched to gather, process and supply real-time traffic information to reduce congestion in Kuala Lumpur. It we

A week-long police safety operation across Europe has led to the removal from the road of some 4,400 trucks for dangerous defects. The action followed checks of more than 137,000 trucks across 26 countries on 10-16 February. Co-ordinated by TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network, the operation saw police carrying out a wide range of safety inspections that focused on speeding, alcohol, drugs, seatbelt use, tachograph infringements, excess weight, dangerous loading and document offences. A total of

The latest variable message sign (VMS) from French manufacturer SES is fully powered by solar panels, making it possible to install a sign virtually anywhere without the need for cables or mains power. Ideal for many applications from highway to urban, the signs use high intensity LEDs in a choice of character matrix, line matrix or full matrix display and are compliant with EN12966 European standards. With a display height of 160mm to 457mm, the signs are ideal for large VMS to small lane control signs

A new English-language web portal, www.French-rail-industry.com has been launched to promote France’s railways expertise to potential customers. The web portal aims to raise awareness among industry professionals worldwide of the know-how prevalent in France’s railway sector with sections devoted to the latest international company news and events such as Innotrans, which will take place in Berlin from 23 to 26 September 2014. The website will also help to establish connections between international

Vehicle security specialist Viper has launched its latest keyless vehicle entry system, Viper SmartKey, which it says provides hands free, keyless entry and exit from a vehicle using Bluetooth technology, controlled from the Viper SmartStart smartphone app. Viper SmartKey creates a wireless perimeter around a vehicle that responds to a smartphone via the cloud-connected technology of Viper SmartStart. Compatible with any Viper security or remote start system, the phone simply needs to be within a given r

International consulting and technology company Indra is coordinating the consortium of 15 companies and government bodies that is developing the Mobiwallet project, which will be piloted in the cities of Santander, Florence and Novi Sad and the West Midlands region of the UK. MobiWallet will turn any smartphone into a payment terminal with top-up on the go anywhere, thanks to technologies like NFC tags, 2D barcodes, interactive websites and augmented reality. An innovative platform will process the paym

Following its decision in March to make the first US$16.4 billion tranche of funding available for trans-European transport network projects, the European commission has now adopted the first work programmes within this framework: a multi-annual work programme covering larger projects with a total budget of US$15.1 billion and an annual work programme for 2014 addressing smaller projects with a budget of US1.3 billion. The funding priorities set out in these programmes include: The closing of missing lin

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is accepting applications for funding for transportation improvement projects under the Multimodal Transportation Fund created by Act 89. PennDOT can make available US$20 million in fiscal year 2014-15 to distribute to successful applicants. Eligible projects can cost between US$100,000 and US$3 million and they require a 30 per cent match from local sources. PennDOT will evaluate the applications and make selections based on such criteria as safety

The Bag and Bin it campaign recently launched by the UK’s Highway’s Agency runs until the end of April and aims to tackle the more than 7,500 tonnes of litter thrown on to the nation’s highways each year. The litter blighting England's motorways costs at least US£9 million a year to collect and could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool four times over, according to the latest figures from the Highways Agency.

Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has released its three-year transportation program, featuring approximately US$1.5 billion in infrastructure investments for 59 individual project phases in 41 counties, as well as 14 state-wide programs. Due to the uncertainty of the future of the Federal Highway Trust Fund, TDOT has taken a conservative approach to this building program. The program does not feature early engineering work on any new projects. TDOT is continuing its pay-as-you-go philosophy and

The directors of Redflex Holdings have announced the appointment of two new Australia-based non-executive directors, Paul Clark and John Murphy. Paul Clark previously held senior executive positions at PWC, EY, National Australia Bank, Bank West, Bank of New Zealand and HBOS Australia and is currently chairman of Melbourne Water, a director of the Victorian Water Industry Association and an advisory board member of Salta Properties, one of Australia's largest privately owned property companies. He has exten

Dr Alan Stevens, chief scientist and research director at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), has been working in Beijing on an ITS project to develop a strategy to improve safety on the motorways of China, using cooperative ITS as an addition to more traditional safety improvements. It is also expected that this will lead to improvements in capacity and environmental sustainability.

Launching National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the Department of Transportation's first-ever national advertising campaign and law enforcement crackdown to combat distracted driving. As part of the effort, television, radio and digital advertisements using the phrase U Drive, U Text, U Pay will run from 7-15 April, which coincides with a nationwide law enforcement crackdown in states with distracted driving bans.