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New Zealand transport Minister Simon Bridges has announced work is set to begin on a multi-million dollar fire deluge system that will improve safety and reduce the risk of lengthy closures at Lyttelton Tunnel south of Christchurch. The US$19.9 million (NZ$28.7 million) project is the largest project undertaken at the tunnel since it opened in 1964. The contract has been awarded to McConnell Dowell, with work set to start in the coming weeks. A fire sprinkler system is the most effective means of mana

New Zealand transport Minister Simon Bridges has announced work is set to begin on a multi-million dollar fire deluge system that will improve safety and reduce the risk of lengthy closures at Lyttelton Tunnel south of Christchurch. The US$19.9 million (NZ$28.7 million) project is the largest project undertaken at the tunnel since it opened in 1964. The contract has been awarded to McConnell Dowell, with work set to start in the coming weeks. A fire sprinkler system is the most effective means of mana

UK civil and electrical engineering firm, McCann, has completed the lighting upgrades on a 19km stretch of the M62 motorway between J22-25, replacing 1,224 existing high pressure sodium lanterns with new Ampera Maxi LED lighting units. The project, coordinated by Highways England’s term contractor A-one+, also included the installation of a new central management system, with remote manipulation of operational burn hours, control over the timing of dimmed lighting when there is minimal traffic and fault mon

The autonomous cars developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland are able to exchange information with each other and their driving environment. They are able to follow a pre-programmed route and avoid collisions with sudden obstacles without input from the driver. The cars currently require the lane markings or sides of the road to be visible. However, by 2020, VTT says the cars will be driving in more demanding conditions on roads covered in gravel and snow. The autonomous cars feature a thermal

Spanish construction and infrastructure company COMSA is to build the 14 kilometres of double-lane tramway in Odense, Denmark, as it seeks to expand its presence in northern Europe. The company will be responsible for the construction and commissioning of more than 14 kilometres of double-lane tramway between the districts of Tarup Centro and Hjallese, together with the execution of the 26 stations that will form the line. The contract, valued at US$175 million (€158 million), also includes the execution of

Q-Free has demonstrated the vehicle location capabilities of its current range of Cooperative ITS (C-ITS) systems in Australia in tests carried out with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), the transport authority for News South Wales. Q-Free’s systems gave second-by-second positional information on heavy vehicles manoeuvring at intersections. They demonstrated Q-Free’s C-ITS systems’ ability to provide to-the-lane accuracy and open the way to future C-ITS applications where, for example, drivers need to be w

The Weather Company, an IBM business, has introduced its new Operations Dashboard for Ground Transportation, a solution which is designed to help optimise workforce productivity and route selection for freight and logistics companies. This comprehensive, customisable dashboard includes key information on weather and road condition information and also integrates real-time traffic flow and incident data, and flags safety hazards. The Operations Dashboard for Ground Transportation is designed to provide input

The initial findings of the UMii (Urban Mobility innovation index) project have been presented in the plenary session of the UITP Global Public Transport Summit (15-17 May 2017) in Montréal and highlighted the fact that innovation is more than technology-based. The findings of the UMii project, initiated by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority and implemented by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), in partnership with Future Cities Catapult, also indicated that new types of governanc

UK start-up Vivacity Labs, creators of a sensor with in-built machine-learning that can identify individual road users and manage traffic accordingly has secured a total of US$3.8 million (£3 million) in funding, that could pave the way for driverless cars and truly smart cities that can recognise different vehicles and regulate traffic in real-time. The company has secured a US$2.2 million (£1.7 million) project grant from Innovate UK to roll out a city-wide sensor network for the VivaMK project and a str

The City of Calgary, Canada, has selected Inrix to supply its Roadway Analytics to help the city manage its road network with access to on-demand data to analyse, visualise and understand performance without the need for additional technology investments. The city can also identify and compare locations that are operating sub-optimally to help prioritise road improvement efforts. In addition, Roadway Analytics allows city planners to perform before and after studies to quantify and communicate the impact o

It is with great regret that we have to report that Emmanuel Salle, international business development manager and marketing at Belgian traffic and automation company Macq, Brussels, died in a car accident in India on 8 May whilst on a business trip. Emmanuel worked for Macq for more than 15 years and prior to that was a Professor at American University of Science and Technology. He leaves a wife and two children and will be sadly missed by all his friends and colleagues. Emmanuel will be buried on Saturday

Volvo has developed a bespoke autonomous refuse collecting vehicle designed to minimise the need for the driver to climb in and out of the cab when collecting the bins for emptying into the body. Having driven the route to program the stopping points, on subsequent visits the driver can simply press a button on the side of the vehicle to initiate the vehicle moving to the next position – either forward or backwards. The appropriate gear is engaged and the park brake released automatically until the move is

Scope Technologies and specialist technology Riga Technical University (RTU), Latvia, have partnered to develop Smart Cities technology which they say will help municipalities and major cities identify dangerous infrastructure-related driving areas. The technology collects billions of data sets per day through a range of telemetry, including comprehensive geographical and road infrastructure data in conjunction with traffic, weather and road accident data. By behavioural elements in the way people drive, tr

The International Transport Forum, in partnership with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) is working on a project which examines the impact of driverless trucks. It focuses on developments in Europe and North America, with some evidence drawn from other continents, such as automated trains and mining equipment in Australia. The aim is to consider whether driverless road freight trans