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Greater Manchester Combined Authority with Transport for Greater Manchester have awarded to Siemens one of the most significant service contracts of its kind for the long-term maintenance of traffic signalling equipment across all ten districts of Greater Manchester. Under Transport for Greater Manchester’s guidance, the service contract is designed to secure substantial energy savings and reduce carbon emissions.

Graham Construction has won the contract, worth over US$21 million, to provide the state-of-the-art ITS for the new Forth Bridge replacement crossing in Scotland. The company will deliver the traffic flow management system along the M90 to control traffic flow using overhead signal gantries and provide motorists with current travel updates via variable message boards. The ITS contract is to provide and install seventeen gantries, along with foundations and associated maintenance lay-bys. Further work wi

Safetran, an Econolite Group company, has been awarded a two-year traffic cabinet purchase order contract from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and will begin shipping cabinets this month. This contract marks the second time in a row Safetran has successfully competed and passed Caltrans’ stringent quality assurance criteria to be selected as the traffic cabinet supplier to the transportation agency.

A new report from Frost & Sullivan - “Strategic Technology and Market Analysis of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in Europe” predicts that the electric venicle (EV) charging infrastructure market could grow from less than 10,000 charging stations in 2010 to more than two million in 2017, 3% of which would be based on very-fast charging and inductive charging. “We are awaiting that European governments will forecast a budget of €700 million over the next seven years to build a charging infrastruc

Brigade Electronics has been awarded the Quiet Mark for its white sound reversing alarms (bbs-tek) which only sound in the immediate danger area, preventing noise nuisance associated with old-style beeping alarms. White sound reversing alarms are the only reversing alarm to receive the award and work effectively at much lower decibel ratings than old style beeping alarms, which cause a huge noise nuisance to local residents. With white sound alarms the sound is contained in the immediate danger area so peo

The Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners II-Abertis Infraestructuras consortium has been chosen by the Puerto Rican Government to operate the PR-22 and PR-5 motorways for a period of 40 years for US$1.08 billion. The operation will be formalised in September 2011.

TomTom has announced the availability of its latest map product update for automotive, government, and enterprise customers. Some of the enhancements include continued expansion in India with the addition of over 2,000 km of roads in 47 cities, the addition of 64,000km of roads with navigable coverage in Brazil, improvements in Mexico, the Mega Manila area of the Philippines, full coverage of Croatia, and the introduction of a MultiNet map for Namibia and Botswana in Africa. TomTom claims its maps now cover

People in the UK county of Buckinghamshire can now use an Apple iPhone to photograph and report a pothole, loose paving, broken bollard or faulty street light. Developed by Masternaut for Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB), the app captures a digital image of the defect with its geolocation and transmits it back to highway maintenance teams. This gives highways managers important information direct from the scene, which helps with managing response levels and providing better service. "Using this app, i

The city of Oslo in Norway is constructing a new biogas facility which will convert food waste such as coffee grounds and banana peels into green fuel for buses beginning 2013. Local company, Cambi, is constructing the plant, which is to produce the energy equivalent of four million litres of diesel fuel per annum. The plant will use the thermal hydrolysis method. According to the Acting Plant Manager of the Oslo Municipality Waste-to-Energy Agency, Anna-Karin Eriksson, complete capacity for the biogas plan

A debate run on Tuesday June 21st by the International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) will discuss funding problems for the US highway network. Portions of the interstate highway system are more than 50 years old. According to IBTTA, the interstate system is crumbling due to neglect, lack of maintenance, and inadequate funding. From an initial investment of US$129 billion the cost to first build the Interstate highway system, it will now cost the US from $1.3 trillion - $2.5 trillion to rebu

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), and Magna E-Car Systems (Magna E-Car), a supplier of components and systems for hybrid and electric vehicles, have announced a joint venture named Mahy E-Cell as a platform to co-develop and grow a successful battery cell and battery pack business. Under the agreement, HHI and Magna E-Car will jointly conduct engineering, design, development and testing activities with the goal of preliminary validation of battery cell and battery pack technologies for electric and hybrid ele

Honda is taking a comprehensive approach to enhancing driver visibility and confidence on the road beginning with the widespread application of rear view cameras on 2013 models. Over 94 per cent of Honda's 2013 model line up will be equipped with rear view cameras, with 100 per cent of Honda's truck line up (Crosstour, CR-V, Odyssey, Pilot, Ridgeline) as well as CR-Z, Accord and Crosstour providing rear view cameras as standard equipment. "At Honda, we feel that this visibility feature will be important to

The European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC) is giving awards to Lithuania and Sweden for the efforts these countries have made in improving road safety. The ETSC is monitoring progress in reaching the EU target of reducing road deaths by 50% between 2001 and 2010 under its Road Safety PIN Programme. And because Lithuania and Sweden have been so successful in improving road safety, ETSC handed its 2011 PIN Award to these countries. The Road Safety PIN Report 2011 was presented at the ETSC conference in B

The authorities in Qatar are planning to launch a series of public tenders for major infrastructure projects. Details of the tenders and the scale of the contracts have yet to be released but these will involve major highway construction projects as well as other associated infrastructure works.

Collision-avoidance technologies which could help eliminate cyclist and pedestrian deaths caused by driver ‘blind-spots’ should be made mandatory for all UK buses and lorries by 2015, according to a new report published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The ‘Intelligent Transport Intelligent Society’ report also calls for eCall to be integrated into all new road vehicles within the next two years. “The alarming rise in cyclist deaths on British roads needs to be addressed urgently,” says Philippa

A study conducted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland suggests that there is practically no difference between commercial petrol grades 95E10 and 98E5 sold in Finland with regard to fuel consumption during normal driving. The finding is based on driving tests conducted by VTT using six used cars of different make under laboratory conditions. It has been claimed in public that fuel consumption is higher with 95E10 petrol than with its predecessor 95E or the 98E5 petrol currently on the market. The su

Consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff will upgrade the fire fighting systems in the Mersey Tunnel in the UK. This move will improve the tunnel’s safety measures and bring it into line with stringent new requirements being introduced right across Europe. Under the terms of the deal international consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff has a contract to help Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority upgrade and modernise fire fighting systems in the Kingsway tunnels, which are two of the longest road tunnels in the UK. The

To support the rapid growth in vehicle production and airbag fitment rates in Asia, Autoliv has begun the construction of an airbag cushion manufacturing plant in Chonburi, near Bangkok. The company’s existing airbag cushion plant in Thailand opened just two years ago. The new facility will have capacity to produce 4.6 million cushions corresponding to 15 per cent of Autoliv’s global manufacturing capacity for 'cut & sewn' textile cushions for airbag systems. Autoliv also produces 20 million highly autom

TRW, a specialist in active and passive safety, says it has been awarded new business for its next-generation electric park brake (EPB) technology with two major North American based vehicle manufacturers. The system functions as a conventional hydraulic brake for standard service brake applications, and as an electric brake for parking and emergency braking. TRW launched the first integrated caliper EPB system in 2001 and is bringing the wide range of functional and ancillary benefits of EPB to the North A

Fontinalis Partners, a strategic investment firm, has invested in San Francisco-headquartered SQLstream Inc., which claims to be the first standards-based stream computing platform to enable companies to exploit and monetize their real-time service and sensor data.