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Aug 12, 2017

ELECTRIC TRUCKS POWER * New Zealand - Infrastructures

* Auckland - Will soon have the infrastructure to keep EVs moving

--- To support NZ’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable electricity as a transport fuel, Chargemaster Limited is working with world leaders to bring market-leading technology to NZ... After a comprehensive global scan, Chargemaster has selected Dutch based company Heliox for heavy vehicle charging bus, mining and port-vehicle charging, and Austrian based Keba for intelligent residential, public and commercial charging to bring charging stations to NZ... Heliox is an established European market leader, with more than 85% of the total electric bus charging market... Keba is a proven AC charging solution for light vehicles, with more than 35,000 chargers sold globally... As the uptake of EVs increase, it is important to make sure that NZ’s infrastructure to support that uptake grows... Chargemaster is beginning to take the necessary steps to ensure that heavy EVs can make the long-haul and that civilian EVs get the necessary benefits of stable charging...
(Photo: Nissan's EV chargering point)   --  New Zealand - Future Five, by Jacques-Pierre Dumas - August 08, 2017

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Apr 7, 2017

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: The world’s largest tunnel drill

* Washington - Bertha’s breakthrough just ‘halftime’ for tunnel project

 --- After nearly four years for boring under downtown Seattle, Bertha emerged into daylight on Tuesday in South Lake Union... The world’s largest tunnel drill has halted for cleanup work, after it spent Tuesday morning kicking up dust and grinding into daylight... Workers and politicians celebrated, but a lot of work remains before motorists drive the double-deck, four-lane tunnel, says a project administrator... AND ... Who pays what may take years to resolve... State Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, last week filed a bill that would withhold state revenue sharing for transportation, liquor and marijuana taxes for health programs, and municipal courts unless Seattle pays any future cost overruns... The state’s 2009 legislation approving a tunnel said excess state costs would be borne by property owners who benefit, and “a promise is a promise,” Orcutt argues... 
Seattle, WASH, USA - The Seattle Times, by Mike Lindblom - April 5, 2017

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May 13, 2016

HEIGHT WARNING for TRUCKS * New Zealand

* Auckland - Trucks to get bigger warnings at overbridges

--- Height sensor signs at the Penrose overbridge will soon be much harder to miss, New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) says... Part of Auckland's southern motorway was closed for hours on Monday afternoon after a driver hauling a heavy digger crashed into the overbridge at 1.20pm... The driver, who failed to stop as he approached the bridge just after 1pm, hit the bridge and caused the digger to topple... An NZTA spokesperson said sensors which flash a warning to drivers if the load is too tall went off yesterday, but the system was being upgraded to make it more visible... The upgrade to electronic signs about 300 metres before the bridge would be finished in the next three months, making them "even more difficult to miss", he said... Mr Gliddon said NZTA worked very closely with the freight industry to ensure its members were aware of the height requirements of the bridge and others on the network... 
(Photo: RNZ/ Tom Furley - Penrose overbridge was also struck by a truck in March)   --   Auckland, NZ - Radio NZ - 10 May 2016

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Jan 18, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia: Upgrading key freight roads

* SA - Roads to get safety upgrade


-- The Australian Government has announced a $11.2 million plan to upgrade a number of key freight roads in South Australia... The road safety driven project will see upgrades along the Main South Road between Oldkey freight roads Coach and Malpas Roads, Aldinga in Adelaide... According to Road Safety Minister, Tony Piccolo, the upgrade forms part of the Motor Accident Commission’s $100 million investment in road safety infrastructure... Works are expected to commence this year and be completed in 2017... 
(Photo: A large section of the Tod Highway will benefit from an extra $40 million investment in road safety measures in this year’s State Budget)  --  Adelaida, South Australia - Prime Mover - 17th, January 2016

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Oct 6, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia: Road links for commercial vehicles

* Queensland - Heavy vehicle curfews a drag on our economy

-- Opinion by Peter Anderson Victoria Truking Assoiation, CEO: In Victoria, the issue has re-surfaced in the form of a year-long trial of night curfews for trucks on nine arterial roads north east of Melbourne. Most concerning is that these roads are the main north-south link for heavy vehicles between the Eastern Freeway and the Metropolitan Ring Road... Meanwhile, three bayside Melbourne councils are considering extending weekend bans on trucks using Beach Road, a major thoroughfare linking the Port Phillip, Bayside and Kingston municipalities... The VTA is concerned at rapidly escalating calls from political and community leaders that have led to these and other curfews on key roads. The bans will inevitably hit retail, wholesale, construction and other industries that rely on trucks for the timely delivery of goods... As a representative group we continue to lobby for the major roads we need to fully connect our disjointed road network, including the Northern Link connecting the Eastern Freeway and the Metropolitan Ring Road... 
(Photo: The proposed East West Link is an 18km long freeway standard road connection between the Eastern Freeway at Hoddle Street and the Western Ring Road)   --  Victoria, QLND, Australia - Prime Mover by PETER ANDERSON - 5 October 2015

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INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: Recent study evaluates drone use in bridge inspections

* Minnesota - MnDOT tests drones for bridge inspections

  (Video from MnDOT Research - The Minnesota Department of Transportation recently completed a study to examine the effectiveness of drone technology as it applies to bridge safety inspections)
 -- There are 20,291 bridges of 10 feet or more and 4,571 trunk highway bridges in Minnesota and they all require inspection. To that end, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is exploring ways to control cost and manage risk by using drones... A recent study by MnDOT looked at the effectiveness and possibility of employing unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to aid in bridge inspections by gathering images without the use of an under-bridge inspection vehicle... The research team used drones on four bridge inspections around the state. The team found that drones’ ability to gather high quality still images and video footage of bridges correlated with the findings in previous bridge inspections that did not use drones. The drones also captured data from infrared cameras and data needed to construct maps of bridge areas and 3D models of bridge elements... Goals in phase two of the study, which begins in early fall, include operating the drone without a GPS signal and gathering images from the underside of bridges... MnDOT staff will be required to obtain authorization from the Federal Aviation Authority, to operate a drone... In addition, all operators of drones that receive compensation are required to obtain a commercial operations license. The license is to demonstrate that the operation is approved by the Federal Aviation Authority. In addition, the operator must carry the appropriate insurance coverage... 
St. Paul, MINN, USA - The Minnesota Department of Transportation (PR) - Sep 28, 2015

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Aug 11, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES WORLDWIDE: * Turkey - ** Australia

* Turkey - Construction of Ro-Ro port in Istanbul to ease city traffic
-- A harbor will be built for roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships on the European side of Istanbul, which will help eliminate the number of semi-trailer trucks clogging up the streets and highways of the metropolis and ease traffic in the region... The Ro-Ro port, which will transport long-haul trucks from Istanbul’s southwestern Ambarlı district to Yalova’s Topçular district in the east of the Marmara Sea, will be constructed after the Environmental Impact Report (ÇED) for the project, which was presented to Istanbul’s Environment and Urbanization Directorate, is accepted... The project, which is estimated to be constructed within three years and will cost a total of 110 million Turkish Liras, aims to decrease the strain on Istanbul’s clogged roads by some 2,000 semi-trailer trucks or 3,500 trucks, the estimated carriage figures for the Ro-Ro ships which will operate between Ambarlı and Topçular on a daily basis. .. The trucks will travel from Europe to Asia by means of a two-hour sea voyage, plus a half-an-hour loading time, greatly reducing the 300-kilometer trip by road which can take up to seven hours. The project also aims to reduce wear and tear on the roads between the two cities... 
(Photo: EKOL Lojistik ferry, Turkey, launched a new Ro-Ro service)   --   Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish Weekly - August 10, 2015


** Australia / Queensland: Toowoomba bypass toll price not set

-- There still is no toll price set for the 41km Toowoomba Second Range Crossing... At a Transport and Logistics Symposium today Project Queensland Project Director Damian Gould told delegates more consultation was needed before a toll could be set... The answer came after a delegate told Mr Gould that transport operators such as those carting cattle, who didn't have access to inland rail, saw a toll road as a burden... Mr Gould said a toll price for heavy vehicles would be set after consultation with the industry, but he couldn't be any more specific than the indicative tolling levels that were based on the original modelling... He did say the consultation would be based around getting value for money for operators and that the state will retain the toll revenue risk...
(Photo: Toowoomba Second Range Crossing)  --  Toowoomba, QLD, Australia - Big Rigs, by Carly Morrissey - 4th Aug 2015

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Jul 25, 2015

BRIDGE COLLAPSED * USA: Costs $ 2,5M daily to trucking industries

* California - I-10 bridge closure 

(Photo: The heavy rain caused serious damage to a portion of I-10 in California, and collapsed a bridge)
 ... The I-10 Tex Wash bridge closure is adding an additional cost of approximately $2.5 million per day to the trucking industry, according to data collected by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI)...
(Photo: One pickup truck was caught when the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 over Tex Wash bridge)
 ... The bridge, which supported eastbound traffic between Southern California and Phoenix, collapsed on Sunday afternoon after flash floods near Desert Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 3,100 truck drivers travel on I-10 between Coachella and Arizona every day... Drivers are being re-routed dozens of miles off-course, which is resulting in hours-long delays that have led to the loss of productivity. Delays are showing up in shipment and fuel costs, and, since drivers are paid by the mile, when they are rerouted several hundred miles, those costs increase as well, The LA Times said... If the segment remained closed for a month, the cost would total an additional $75 million to those trucks delivering freight in that area, ATRI said... 
Sacramento, CAL, USA - Fleet Owner, by Cristina Commendatore - Jul 23, 2015

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Jul 3, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia: 15 passing lanes on WA

* Western Australia - New overtaking lanes for Goldfields

-- The WA State Government has announced the creation of 15 passing lanes on Great Eastern Highway between Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie-Boulder... Transport Minister, Dean Nalder, Road Safety Minister, Liza Harvey, and Regional Development Minister, Terry Redman, were in Kalgoorlie-Boulder to announce the $48 million project, with the funding coming from the Royalties for Regions program and the Road Trauma Trust Account... "This project involves construction of new passing lanes, widening the road seal to nine metres, installation of audible edge lining and the placement of safety barriers where necessary" ... Redman said the contribution from the Royalties for Regions program was part of a $4 billion investment over four years in regional Western Australia... 
Kalgoorlie-Boulder, WA, Australia - Prime Mover - 2nd, July 2015

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May 9, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE * USA: The "Battle with the bridge."

* Pennsylvania - PennDOT repairs sign warning trucks from Seven Valleys bridge

-- A tractor-trailer sits on Main Street in Seven Valleys after it got stuck under a bridge on Wednesday. Tractor-trailer driver Karl Edwards of New Jersey said he had been driving from Maryland to York to pick up a load and that this was his first accident in about 20 years... The big truck got stuck while trying to go under a historic railroad bridge in Seven Valleys... Big trucks have been traveling into Seven Valleys only to find that they cannot fit underneath the bridge, which has an 11-foot, 1-inch clearance. Some turn around. Others try to make it through and get stuck. The county had to fix the damaged span a few years ago after a truck tore a piece out of one of the underlying girders... The truck that hit the bridge on Wednesday scraped a sign, knocking off a little bit of paint, said Barry Myers, superintendent of buildings and grounds for the York County Parks... A sign that warns trucks to not go through that area had been knocked down. Crews with the state Department of Transportation fixed the sign on Wednesday... (Photo by Chris Dunn — Daily Record/Sunday NewsYork County Parks superintendent Barry Myers said the bridge over Main Street, which is part of the Heritage Rail Trail, sustained only cosmetic damage) -- York County, PA, USA - YDR, by Teresa Boeckel - 8 May 2015

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Apr 26, 2015

DANGEROUS ROADS * USA - Poor farm road: Narrow and unpaved

* Virginia - Amherst residents concerned for truck drivers on narrow road

 --  One homeowner on a rural road in Amherst County says he's concerned, after he says tractor trailers continue to drive down his road, and wreck... It's something Taze Crowder wants looked at, before someone gets hurt... Poor House Farm Road is narrow, unpaved, and not an ideal route for a tractor trailer. Crowder lives here, saying truck drivers are making a bad habit of getting stuck, or flipping over... Crowder says over the last 6 months, several large tractor trailers have tried coming through, with poor results. Late Tuesday night, Crowder says he received a visit from a driver who found himself in trouble. The truck slid off the roadway, as the driver tried to slip through a narrow opening... Crowder and other residents say additional signage would help keep drivers out... Taze Crowder hopes is fixed, before someone gets hurt... Crowder says he's been in touch with VDOT, and hopes more can be done to keep drivers safer... Paula Jones says in addition to GPS, drivers should plan ahead by using VDOT's website, which lists roads that are off limits to tractor trailers...
Amherst County, VA - WSET TV, by Dave Walls - Apr 22, 2015 

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Apr 17, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * China & Vietnam: Modern expressway amidst

* Vietnam - Transport connectivity with China to help speed up Vietnam's economic development

-- In early April in northern Vietnam, cargo trucks fully loaded with fertilizer, building materials and rice, among other things, constantly flowed back and forth along the Noi Bai-Lao Cai expressway connecting Vietnam's capital Hanoi and the border province with China... The newly-constructed expressway facilitated increasing trade exchanges between China and Vietnam, and boosted economic vitality in Vietnam's northern region... In September 2014, Vietnam's longest and most modernized expressway at 245 kilometers in length, connecting Noi Bai in Hanoi and northwestern Lao Cai province bordering China, officially opened to traffic... This is part of the China's Kunming-Vietnam's Hai Phong Transport Corridor and belongs to the Greater Mekong Subregion ( GMS) cooperation program connecting Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China... 
 (Photo: The $1.5 billion Ha Noi - Lao Cai Highway enables vehicles to run from Hanoi to Lao Cai within 3.5 to 4 hours)  --  Hanoi, Vietnam - Xinhua/ Shanghai Daily, by Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh and Zhang Jianhua - Apr 13,2015

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INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia: Some stock routes were almost unusable

* Northern Territoriy - Major Central Australian stock routes still a problem as mustering and trucking hits full swing

-- As mustering and trucking cattle hits full swing across the Northern Territory, some of the major stock routes in Central Australia remain a problem... Mark Castagna, manager of a major Northern Territory trucking company said stock routes are still a problem as mustering and trucking of cattle hits full swing in 2015... Mr Castagna said the Tanami road and parts of the Plenty Highway were in a terrible state... The Federal and NT Government announced $40 million late last year to seal around 150 kilometres of the Plenty Highway from the Stuart Highway to Harts Range. Work is yet to commence... Mr Castagna said some stock routes were almost unusable and that was not good, particularly at this time of year... 
(PHOTO: A road train transporting cattle on the Stuart Highway north of Alice Springs)  --   Alice Springs, Northern Territoriy, Australia - abc net, by Nathan Coates - 13 April 2015

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Apr 15, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia. VicRoads gets electronic curfew signs underway

* Victoria - Static signs with long messages seen as ineffective and unsafe

-- VicRoads has developed what it describes as an Australian-first electronic ‘No Trucks’ signs to enforce complex truck curfews in Melbourne’s inner west... In January, Somerville Road, Yarraville truck curfews were extended to include school drop off and pick up in a move backed by the Victorian Transport Association... To clearly and safely communicate four different curfew periods to drivers along the 2.6km stretch of Somerville Road, it turned to electronic LED signs, designed and programmed to switch on and off during truck curfew periods and display a ‘No Trucks’ symbol... The solution looked to avoid large static signs with long messages when conveying multiple and variable time-based curfews... Eleven electronic ‘No Trucks’ signs were designed and installed, of which four are regulatory signs on Somerville Road and seven are advisory signs on the approach to Somerville Road... The total cost of the project including design, electrical and civil works was $590,000...
(Picture: The advisory sign)  --  Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Fully Loaded - 17 March 2015

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Apr 8, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES USA: * DC: Nation's 600,000 bridges need repairs - * Vermont: Slide bridges - * Georgia: Funds for construction projects

* DC - USPIRG's new study indentifies higway boooggles across the country
(Figure. Vehicle-Miles Traveled in the United States, 1946-2013. America’s driving habits are changing, and those changes are likely to last) 
  --  A new report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Education Fund identifies 11 examples of wasteful highway spending that are slated to cost at least $13 billion and are based on outdated assumptions of ever-increasing driving. The study calls on the federal and state governments to reprioritize scarce transportation dollars to other projects... The report, “Highway Boondoggles: Wasted Money and America’s Transportation Future,” details how the 11 projects are based on driving forecasts that are out of synch with the decade-long trend toward less driving. 
(Image: Partnership Border Study)
The wasteful highway expansions include: 
 ° Illiana Expressway, Illinois and Indiana, $1.3 billion to $2.8 billion – A new privatized toll road proposed primarily to speed freight trucks across the Midwest may instead charge tolls too high to attract trucks, and will likely require hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. 
° Cleveland “Opportunity Corridor,” Ohio, $331 million – A new highway has been proposed for a community where driving has been stagnant for years, and where residents are calling instead for repairs to existing roads and investment in transit improvements. 
° Dallas Trinity Parkway, Texas, $1.5 billion – A nine-mile urban highway through the heart of Dallas would have a minimal impact on congestion while detracting from popular, ongoing efforts to make downtown Dallas an attractive place to live and work. 
° Double-decking I-94 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, $1.2 billion – Insisting on a wider road despite its own data showing feared traffic increases are not materializing, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation seeks to rebuild an existing highway as an eight-lane double-decker route through a narrow channel between three cemeteries, despite objections from local officials and citizen groups.
 ... With limited resources dedicated to repair, The nation has over 600,000 bridges that engineers have deemed “structurally deficient,” according to the most recent (2013) National Bridge Inventory tabulated by the Federal Highway Administration... “Why should states prioritize spending on these highly questionable highway expansions while six-hundred-thousand bridges remain structurally deficient and other, more deserving projects languish without funds?” asked Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst at U.S. PIRG... 
 Washington,DC,USA -USPIRG Press Release -September 18, 2014


* Vermont: Will use 'slide-in' bridges on I-91 project
-- The Vermont Transportation Agency is using what it calls a "slide-in construction technique" to minimize disruption for travelers when it replaces two Interstate 91 bridges in White River Junction... When it comes time to install the new bridges, the old one will be quickly demolished and the new one slid into place... The highway will remain open during construction except for two weekends, probably in late August... 
(Image courtesy of PCL: Illustration of a bridge slide in progress) -- White River Junction,VT,USA - The Associated Press/The Trucker - 6 April 2015


* Georgia - Budget to fund range of construction projects
 -- The budget approved by Georgia lawmakers is expected to bring a wave of new construction to the state, which means big business for contractors, road-builders and companies that supply equipment to government and school facilities. The budget includes $1.1 billion in borrowing for construction and equipment purchases, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported... Lawmakers also approved a transportation funding bill that could inject another $900 million or so annually into road and bridge projects. That money is expected to provide big business for road contractors... 
(Photo: The Old Oxford Bridge Road bridge over I-20 is closed for repairs) --  Atlanta, GA, USA - The Trucker News Services - 6 April 2015

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Mar 31, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Canada: 164 truck road test routes

* Ontario - Under the microscope: 164 truck road test routes

-- In September 2014 Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation reviewed all 164 truck road test routes in the province and found all but four compliant. That’s a compliance rate of 97.4 percent, which the ministry quickly upped to 100 percent... The ministry’s investigation quickly ruled that 109 out of 164 (66.5 percent) truck road test routes in Ontario were complaint. The ministry requested more details about the other 55 routes, including compliance with the rule that applicants are taken on a 100 km/hr expressway or an appropriate 80 km/hr substitute... Part of what’s legally required of a truck road test is that the driver is taken on an expressway, or if one is not nearby, taken to a section of highway with a minimum speed limit of 80 km/hr or a ministry approved alternative of equal difficulty. Trouble was that recent changes to speed limits impacted some road test routes in Ontario. Before the changes, some of the routes where truck drivers were road tested had a speed limit of 80 km/hr, but were reduced to 70 km/hr, making them non-complaint with road testing standards... Well, the ministry investigated and found that of the remaining 55 routes, 51 (or 92.7 percent) were compliant. That left only four routes (2.4 percent) non-complaint and those are no longer in use...
(Photo: City of Toronto View looking west from the Nielson Road overpass)  --  Toronto, ONT, CAN - Today's Trucking, by Teona Baetu - Mar 2, 2015

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Mar 19, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: "Work on road bill"

* DC - Not trade agenda, 4 Democrats tell Obama

 -- Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and three colleagues in the House, Monday sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging the president to focus on passing a multi-year highway bill before pushing his trade agenda... “There are 70,000 bridges in the United States that are considered to be structurally deficient,” Ryan said in a statement issued by his office. “This is an opportunity to put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work to improve our country’s infrastructure. There is no doubt it will cost more if we wait. This should be President Obama’s priority — and needs to be completed instead of a controversial and damaging trade agreement” ... 
Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker - 17 March 2015

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Mar 11, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: Proposal for USA highway system

* DC - Proposed 1913 highway system separates cars and trucks

 -- An early proposal for the US highway system came from the National Highways Association. That wasn't a government office and didn't have much influence on congress, but as an evangelizer of "good roads," the NHA presented citizens with one of the first visions of interstate travel. Its 1913 maps advocate for three types of highways: main roads, truck roads, and links. Such infrastructure was not only important for national defense, but also for moral turpitude... (Image: USA's highways map) - Washington, DC, USA - Boing Boing, by Bob Parks - Mar 9, 2015

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Mar 9, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Europe / Germany: A long, strange trip for German truckers near Duisburg

* North Rhine-Westphalia - Achtung all truckers heading eastward towards Duisburg - bring a pillow 

 -- As of Tuesday, you won't be able to go over a main bridge. Why? It's too old. And it's part of a bigger problem facing the German government... Apart from posts about good deals on big rigs and spare parts, licensing and job openings for truckers in and around Oberhausen, Duisburg and Essen, the 12,202 members of the online chat room forum-speditionen.de seemed this weekend to have nothing else on their mind other than a bridge... The bridge in question is part of the A40 autobahn and crosses the Rhine River between Oberhausen and Duisburg. Its location makes it one of western Germany's most heavily used bridges in what is one of the most important inland waterway transportation hubs in all of Europe... As of noon on Tuesday, no trucks over 3.5 tons heading from Oberhausen to Duisburg will be able to traverse the Rhine on the A40. Instead, they will be forced on a detour through the veritable jungle that is the complex mix of highways in the Ruhr region... The 11,000 trucks that normally go over the A40 bridge every day will be rerouted onto the A57, then the A42, then the A3, and finally back to the A40 and on their way... (Photo from dpa - The Neuenkamp bridge near Duisburg - Passage over the A40 bridge - impossible for truckers as of midday on Tuesday)  - Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany - DW, by Gabriel Borrud - 7 March 2015

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Jan 18, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: New Tool - Bridge closed

* Washington - New trucker planning tool helps drivers avoid bridge accidents

Olympia WASH,USA -Sky Valley Chronicle -18 January, 2015: -- A new online tool allows truck drivers in Washington State to more easily research bridge heights – and potential conflicts – before they hit the road... The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was already updating its bridge clearance information at the time of the May 2013 Skagit River Bridge collapse. The bridge collapsed when an oversize commercial truck struck and damaged the upper bridge supports causing a section of Interstate 5 and two vehicles to fall in the river... The newly collected bridge data became a springboard to develop the state route bridge vertical clearance trip planner as part of WSDOT’s overall response to the collapse... Trip planner shows truckers what to avoid... Using GIS mapping, the trip planner shows drivers which bridges on their proposed route should be avoided or approached with caution because heights may vary by lane. While the ultimate responsibility for checking clearance levels remains with the truck driver, this tool makes it easier to fulfill that obligation when applying for trip permits...


* New Jersey - Oversized trucks force shut down of Franklin bridge, officials say

(Google Maps - The bridge, positioned between Market Street and Millstone borough, will be shut down immediately)
Franklin,NJ,USA -NJ.com, by Alex Napoliello -January 16, 2015: -- State officials on Friday shut down the Amwell Road Bridge that crosses the Delaware and Raritan Canal... The bridge, positioned between Market Street and Millstone borough, has suffered structure damage due to oversized trucks passing over it, said Kevin Israel, a spokesman with the New Jersey Department of Transportation... Following a routine inspection, the bridge’s weight limit was reduced to 14 tons, Israel said. However, tractor-trailers weighing 40 tons have been spotted crossing the bridge, he said... Temporary repairs were done in the summer, but a recent heightened level of concern forced officials to close the bridge down immediately... The DOT hopes to reopen the bridge to traffic by the end of February, Israel said...

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