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Jul 25, 2010

INFRA... STRUCTURES * New Zealand's most dangerous roads revealed

Auckland,NZ -TV NZ/One News -24 July 2010: -- Some sections of New Zealand highways have been revealed as being far from safe after the government declared most stretches of road generally safe... There are also accusations that government officials deliberately ignore unsafe roads because of pressure from the trucking industry... Part of State Highway 2 just south of Dannevirke is officially the most dangerous stretch of road in the country... Motorists need to be aware of a rail crossing on the road that doesn't have any barrier arms and also need to need to spot an intersection nearby. They then need be aware of ditches and trees -roadside hazards many motorists don't notice... The latest revelations have come from new safety ratings for state highways. The KiwiRAP Star Ratings have been developed by the Automobile Association and the New Zealand Transport Agency...(Photo from tvnz.co.nz: This part of State Highway 2 just south of Dannevirke is officially the most dangerous

Labels: infra...structures?..

Nov 24, 2009

The Edge Of The Road * USA - Critics Say Roads Still Dangerous Despite Safer Design

Traffic fatalities hit a 40-year low last year, partly due to the recession — less money can mean fewer trips — and safer cars

Washington,DC,USA -NPR, by Brian Naylor -November 24, 2009: ... Better-designed highways also played a role in reducing those road fatalities. Straightforward safety improvements such as rumble strips warn drivers that they are running onto the shoulder. Caps on the ends of roadside guard rails prevent cars from running up on them and vaulting into the air. Cable guard rails, installed on many divided highways, keep cars from crossing medians... Safety advocates say that despite all the improvements, however, the road is still a dangerous place... Gerald Donaldson, senior research director for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, says that leaving the Interstate Highway System increases the chances for accidents because "you get down to some undivided four-lane highways and two-lane two-way rural roads," which often means narrow lanes and severe curves... According to Donaldson, a two-lane rural road is six to eight times more dangerous than an interstate... (Photo by Brian Naylor/NPR - This simulator at Virginia Tech's Center for Automotive Safety Research allows engineers to test how drivers will react to changes in the road such as road signs or different pavement markings)

Labels: infra...structures?..

May 9, 2009

INFRA...? ...STRUCTURES ??? * USA - Rough ride for roads

New York,NY,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -May 8, 2009: -- The ever-worsening shape of our roads in this country is costing all drivers – truckers and the average motorist alike – a lot of extra money that could be better spent elsewhere... According to a new report entitled “Rough Roads Ahead: Fix Them Now or Pay for It Later” released today by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and The Road Information Program (TRIP), driving on rough roads costs the average American motorist approximately $400 a year in extra vehicle operating costs... Along with that, drivers living in urban areas with populations over 250,000 are paying upwards of $750 more annually because of accelerated vehicle deterioration, increased maintenance, additional fuel consumption, and tire wear caused by poor road conditions, the report claims...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Apr 3, 2009

Road in ruins * USA - Gardiner portion of Route 24 in sad shape

Gardiner,ME,USA -The Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel, by KEITH EDWARDS -1 April 2009: -- A short drive, or a short conversation with someone who lives there, seems to make at least one thing clear: Long stretches of Route 24 are a wreck... The pavement is crumbling. Orange-and-white barricades have been set up alerting traffic to collapsing shoulders. One stretch near the Gardiner-Richmond line is set off by large "pavement ends" signs on both ends, where state workers used gravel as a temporary repair... Don Larrabee, who lives on the Gardiner end of the state highway, said the road was already in rough shape -- but got much worse during a recent period when dump trucks used the road to haul materials for the upcoming Interstate 295 repaving project... Others say it's not so clear who or what is to blame, other than the ravages of time and weather on an old road not built to current standards in the first place... (Photo by Joe Phelan - BAD ROAD: Don Larrabee talks about a bad stretch of River Avenue, Route 24, near his Gardiner home)

Labels: infra...structures?..

Mar 25, 2008

INFRA... STRUCTURES !!! * USA - Residents say coal company trucks destroying pavement

Beckley,WV,USA -The Beckley Register-Herald (subscription), by Bill Billeter -24 Mar 2008: -- Residents of the Raleigh County communities of Purity Hill and Allentown are concerned that the road which leads to their homes has been torn up by coal trucks hauling slate from the Beckley Pocahontas mine in Eccles... Mike Streho said the road is full of potholes and constantly covered in a wet black sludge of coal dust, oil and water left behind by the trucks. The substance covers everything, including Streho’s white car. He described it as “the most disgusting thing I ever saw.”... (Photo by W. Dayton Whittle / Register-Herald: Pictured are potholes on Gateway Road in Eccles that residents say have been caused by coal trucks traveling on the road)

Labels: infra...structures?..

Dec 3, 2007

infra??... structures??? * Russia - Trucks Can Also be Ferries

Ann Arbor,MI,USA -Autoblog/Winding Road, by Phil Floraday -2 Dec 2007: -- Apparently the roads in Russia can leave a little bit to be desired. This photo shows a ferry that takes passenger cars across large stretches of mucky roads that would otherwise leave lots of motorists stranded each year... It doesn’t take a veteran off-roader to realize this mud is several feet deep, and if it’s anything like the mud in Michigan, it smells as bad as it looks. It seems ridiculous to have an on-road ferry system, but it’s probably cheaper than actually paving the roads if traffic is sparse...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Nov 2, 2007

INFRA... STRUCTURES ??? * Peru/Bolivia Border * The famous 'Highway of Death'

Here's a couple of shots of the famous 'Highway of Death' across the Andes

Bolivia/Peru Border -Courtessy from BigLorryBlog (UK) -1 November 2007: -- These pictures are from the section through Bolivia...

It's a Volvo... and I wish it wasn't coming my way!

Move over...! Give over more like I'm on the edge as it is!...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Aug 18, 2007

Bridges' Ban * USA - Heavy truckers limited on New York

The New York Supreme Court has ruled against local heavy haulers challenging the city's newly-imposed ban of trucks on two Bronx-Long Island bridges

New York,NY,USA -Today's Trucking (Canada) -17 Aug 2007: -- ... Lawyers representing the Construction Trucking Association and the Road Transport Association spent hours yesterday grilling a Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority (TBTA) engineer about the rationale behind the ban... But this morning, the court ruled that TBTA acted legally when it imposed weight restrictions on trucks that use the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Triborough Bridge, which have reportedly cracked and rusted steel support beams... (Photo by bridgepros.com - Triborough Bridge)

Labels: infra...structures?..

Jul 25, 2007

Trucks Barred * Canada - From Troubled Bridges

Quebec closes 135 overpasses to extra-heavy trucks

Montreal,QUE.CAN -The Globe and Mail, by TU THANH HA -July 19, 2007: -- It is said to be a preventive step that won't affect most motorists. It won't even affect many truck drivers... But the release yesterday of a list of 135 Quebec overpasses that extra-heavy trucks can't use in coming weeks is the latest aftershock of the collapse of a highway overpass that killed five people... Since then, a public inquiry has raised troubling questions about Transport Quebec's ability to maintain and inspect the province's overpasses... The 135 places on the list – from one in downtown Montreal to others in remote places like St-Ambroise-de-Kildare – are closed to overloaded trucks until they can be inspected...

* Que truckers say bridge ban will hike price of goods - List of affected structures
Montreal,QUE.CAN - CTV News/Today's Trucking -July 20, 2007: -- The Quebec government's decision this week to ban heavier loads on 135 provincial overpasses will increase delivery times and thereby the cost of transportation, warn members of the Quebec Trucking Association... Marc Kummer of FLS Transportation said the ban on heavy trucks would push loads off the highways and onto city streets -- increasing route miles and also exposing heavy trucks to urban and residential areas...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Jul 12, 2007

A Looming $4 billion Shortfall * USA - In the federal Highway Trust Fund in Fiscal Year 2009

Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker -July 11, 2007: -- Officials of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents the state transportation departments in Washington, today called for action to address a looming $4 billion shortfall in the federal Highway Trust Fund in Fiscal Year 2009... The shortfall was projected in January to be $700 million. New estimates from the Office of Management and Budget were released today, indicating a shortfall in fiscal year 2009 for the Highway Account of the Trust Fund totaling $3.8 billion, AASHTO reported... AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley said unless action is taken the development could trigger substantial cuts in the federal-aid highway program financed in each state through the Highway Trust Fund...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Jun 5, 2007

DEBATE * USA - Trucks, road damage and road tolls

Chicago,Ill,USA -chicagoboyz.ne, by Ralf Goergens -June 2nd, 2007 : -- Recently I have become interested in the problem of increasing road congestion. This post is just meant to be a kind of general introduction to the issue, and also to demonstrate how damaging the increasing freight transport via trucks can become if the ensuing problems aren’t addressed properly soon... In other words, a 40 ton truck can easily cause as much damage to a typical road as 60,000 1 ton cars. The fourth power rule isn’t carved in stone, of course, but it happens to describe damage to roads most accurately. Factors that influence the concrete amount of damage a road suffers are besides subgrades the tires and the paving materials and their specific (di-)stress modes (Link to a 114 kb PDF-File). Distress modes of road pavement include damages such as surface cracking, surface roughness and rutting...

Labels: infra...structures?..

May 9, 2007

* USA - Trucks damage county roads, officials told

Damage to several south county roads has again become an issue for Wabash County Commissioners.

Wabash,IN,USA -The Wabash Plain Dealer, by SHEILA RHOADES -May 7, 2007: -- Commissioners on Monday, May 7, learned that a large dairy farm continues to have its manure hauled down various county roads, breaking down the surfaces that were never meant to hold that much weight... Larry Rice, Wabash County Highway superintendent, presented photographs of some of the damage that has been created most likely by semis hauling well over the specified weight limit... "This is costing us a fortune to repair," Commissioner President Lester Templin said. "These roads that are damaged weren't meant for this kind of weight... "We will take this under advisement and seriously look at it," he added, "and whatever we need to do we need to do."...

Labels: infra...structures?..

May 8, 2007

* Ireland - Irish irony

... "It's all causes and effects; wise men tackle the former, idiots focus on the latter"...

Dublin,Irlanda -The Pillion Passenger -7 May 2007: -- Irish truck drivers will protest tomorrow by staging a go-slow on the m50. They are upset at excessive delays on the m50. So they are going to delay things even more... Nobody will disagree that the m50 is the seventh circle of hell but who will support the truckers' action? This battle is over, the m50 is too small by at least a lane - the government knew this at the time it was being built but decided to plough on with the project anyway... (Picture: M50 in Sandyford at the overlap of Junctions 13 and 14)

* Ireland - Traffic warning amid lorries protest

Dublin,Ireland -Breaking News -8 May 2007: -- Hauliers scaled back their protest on the M50 and at Dublin Port this morning but commuters were still warned of major traffic disruption in the rush-hour... Up to 300 trucks were involved in a slow-moving blockade along the capital’s ring road in protest at Dublin City Council’s ban on all large goods vehicles on the city’s quays, while rolling stoppages were taking place at Dublin Port...

Labels: infra...structures?..

May 5, 2007

"NOT RELIABLE" * USA - Audit shows TxDOT exaggerated the numbers – again

The Texas state auditor has concluded that transportation officials used inflated numbers when they reported an $86 billion funding gap for highways and transportation projects.

TX,USA -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -May 1 , 2007: -- The audit released April 30 has a familiar ring to it because it is the second scathing review of transportation funding estimates this year in the state... State Auditor John Keel said the $86 billion estimate by Texas Department of Transportation officials should be more like $77.4 billion, but that’s not all. Nearly $38 billion of that estimate took into account undocumented cost estimates from city officials competing for shared transportation dollars... Keel’s team of auditors concluded that while additional funding for transportation is needed, TxDOT’s formula “may not be reliable for making policy or funding decisions"...

Labels: infra...structures?..

May 3, 2007

Searching for Parking * USA - Rigs Keep on Trucking

On any given night, the shoulders of interstates leading into big cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore are lined with long glistening strands of parked 18-wheelers

Akron,PA,USA -Layover/Associated Press -1 May 2007: -- These are the trucks that couldn't get a space in nearby rest stops or truck stops because those roadsides oases are already packed with resting big rigs... Thanks to a strong economy, more trucks than ever are moving on the nation's roads, transporting goods. But the number of places where truckers can stop and get some shut-eye during long hauls isn't expanding as fast... New Jersey, voted by the trucking industry as the nation's worst state in terms of rest stops, has only five public rest stops with bathrooms on its interstates and main state roads (not counting toll roads). In Connecticut alone, there's a shortage of 2,200 public spaces for trucks each night, says the state's transportation department... Building more parking spots isn't an easy or likely solution, says Christopher Burruss, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, a Washington advocacy group which represents companies using trucks to move freight. For one thing, land that is close to highways or major cities, where truckers prefer to stop, tends to be expensive, and parking lots eat up a lot of land... Some cities and towns don't like the idea of a steady stream of mammoth vehicles rumbling through their neighborhoods. Communities along California's Interstate 5 have passed legislation that essentially prohibits the opening of any new truck stops along the side of the road... Currently, there are about 1,000 truck stops spread across the country... Truckers caught parking illegally along the highway are generally hit with parking fines. Such fines don't add up to a great deal of money for states, which often leave it up to the discretion of police whether to ticket the driver or to just ask him to find a safer place to park for the night... That was a dilemma that plagued Maryland state trooper and department spokesman Arthur Betts when he patrolled the rest stops along I-95 between Washington and Baltimore during a recent stint. He says he could have spent his entire shift ticketing truckers for illegal parking, if time allowed...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Apr 16, 2007

Infrastructures * USA - Want heavier trucks? Fully fund highways

Pawlenty transportation system won't support behemoths

Minneapolis,MN,USA -The Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) -April 15, 2007: -- Business interests are back in St. Paul this year arguing in support of a Pawlenty administration proposal to allow heavier trucks on Minnesota highways. The Legislature's answer should be simple and direct: Put your proposal away until Minnesota's highways and bridges are fully, adequately funded to handle existing commercial traffic... Minnesota currently restricts most truck weights to 80,000 pounds (the same as the federal limit on freeways), and Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration proposes raising that to 100,000 pounds. Opponents (including railroads, naturally) argue against the change, citing worries about road wear and tear, and the safety risks that heavier vehicles would entail... There are economic benefits that would accrue from allowing the heavier vehicles, however, and the concerns could be answered -- were Minnesota's roads, and especially its bridges, in top shape. The critical factor for road wear, for example, isn't the overall weight of a truck, but the number of axles on which that weight is distributed, provided that roads and bridges are in good shape... The problem is that Minnesota's roads and bridges are in deplorable shape, and the same administration that is proposing heavier trucks is determined to keep them that way -- by pledging to veto the Legislature's 10-cent gas-tax increase, the first for Minnesota since 1988, and half-cent metro sales tax for transit...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Feb 7, 2007

infra??? structure??? * Ethiopia - Truck, Bridge Sinks 40m in Gibe River

...experts believe is the first in bridge history...

Addis Abeba, Ethiopia -Nazret.com (College Park,MD,USA), by ISSAYAS MEKURIA -7 Feb 2007: -- A heavy-duty truck carrying a dozer has fallen 40 meters into Gibe River, taking down with it the entire bridge in a manner experts believe is the first in bridge history. One of the four people inside the truck had been pronounced dead at the scene... Comment by Mitiku [Visitor]: How many bridges are bad designed?... I think the designer and or the contractor who installed the collapsed bridge should be questioned why the cross members were so low and also why such a catastrophic failure?... Were there height and weight limit signs on both sides of the bridge? My father was a truck driver i remember the old bridge built by the Italians was doing fine and we use to drive on it without fear with a loaded truck and trailer... Every time maintenance was needed the truck drivers use to fix the problem with hammer and nails... That bridge served for many years without failures and is still serving... Shame on the Ethiopian engineers who supervised the construction... I suggest all new bridges be reinspected to avoid similar failures... Here in the US the contractor would have paid for the damage... The truck company should not be held liable for the damage...

Labels: infra...structures?..

Feb 6, 2007

infra?...structures?.. * Canada - Road system left to deteriorate

St.John's,CAN -St. John's Telegram -2 Feb 2007: -- The Rock's provincial government has let road conditions lapse for over a decade, according to the province's auditor general. John Noseworthy said a review in '96 indicated the province wasn't sufficiently managing the road system or fixing bumpy highways , and 10 years later there is still no improvement... There is no formal program to assess the 9,000 km of paved road, and 2,000 km of gravel roads in the province...

Labels: infra...structures?..