User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News
Google
 
Loading

Jul 19, 2017

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia

* ACT - $35.5 million bridge announced for Victoria Highway

--- The Federal Government plans to slash annual highway closures due to flooding with a $35.5 million bridge on the Victorian Highway to tun over Big Horse and Little Horse Creeks... The works to strengthen the Victoria Highway between Western Australian and the Northern Territory will soon be underway, with the contract to deliver the $35.5 million project awarded to Northern Territory business Allan King & Sons Construction Pty Ltd... Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said the works would take place about 300 kilometres west of Katherine, improving links between Perth and Darwin... 
 (Photo by Bruce Honeywill - The project is set to cut down on closured for Heavy Vehicles travelling on the Victoria Highway)   --   Canberra, ACT, Australia - Big Rigs - 17th Jul 2017

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 4:32 AM  0 comments

Jun 14, 2017

TRUCKS ONLY LANES * USA: Proposed by state of Georgia

* Georgia - Seeks to remove motorists with designated truck-only lanes

--- At a time when Australian authorities bar truckies from using lanes on a number of major highways, this U.S state has a different approach... Instead of pushing heavy vehicles from the express lane, the State of Georgia instead seeks to remove motorists from the equation, with designated truck-only lanes... The proposed project will see the construction of two lanes restricted to trucks (similar to Australia's bus only lanes), on a popular freight route the Interstate 75 with an estimated to cost over $2 Billion... The proposal comes in the lead up to the expansion of the port of Savannah, which will add to the demand on the State's trucking industry who already hauls 75 percent of the total freight tonnage in Georgia... The truck-only lane project is the first of its kind to go ahead in the U.S...  Similar projects have been mentioned in a number of proposals in Australia, including a 2012 report into a number of private financing options for Sydney motorways... 
(Photo: Truck bypass lanes for I-15 and I-405 interchange)  --  Savannah, GA, USA - Big Rigs (Australia) - 14th Jun 2017

Labels: , ,

posted by Unknown @ 6:13 AM  0 comments

Oct 28, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURE OUTLAYS * USA: Whoever wins the Presidential Election

* New York - Construction-based ETFs are outperforming S&P 500

--- The prospect of increased U.S. government spending is tantalizing investors who see such outlays as critical to revitalizing economic growth and ending the era of ultralow interest rates, while frustrating others who fear efforts won’t go far enough... After years in which central-bank stimulus measures have produced only sluggish growth, many economists say now is the time for the U.S. to embark on long-debated plans to build roads, bridges and sewers. Building infrastructure, they say, could boost employment, wages and productivity, the last of which has fallen disturbingly low in recent years, and create economic wealth far outweighing the costs of additional federal borrowing... Lifting hopes for such plans, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump have proposed increasing infrastructure spending... 
(PHOTO by CLAUDIO PAPAPIETRO/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - The Tappan Zee Bridge, right, and construction of the new bridge to replace it)   --  Washington, DC, USA - The WSJ, by AARON KURILOFF, CORRIE DRIEBUSCH and NICK TIMIRAOS - Oct. 23, 2016

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 8:38 PM  0 comments

Aug 16, 2016

NEW INTERNATIONAL TRUCKING CORRIDOR ? * Europe & Asia

* India, Russia and Iran consider intermodal route
--- Iran, Russia and India have revived long-stalled discussions on a multimodal North-South Transportation Corridor linking Mumbai to the port of Bandar Abbas to Moscow. The 4,000 mile intermodal route would bypass the Suez Canal, cutting weeks off of the sea route transit time from the Arabian Sea to the Baltic... A first version of the plan, floated 16 years ago, would have routed container shipments to the Caspian Sea port of Olya, near Astrakhan, then transshipped them up the Volga to Russia and thence to eastern Europe. At the time, President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the limited cargo handling capacity at Olya would have to be boosted in order to take care of the additional traffic... In 2014, the Federation of Freight Forwarders of India tested this route and an alternative passing through Azerbaijan, and found that routing cargo through the Caspian region could save as much as $170 per ton over the cost of shipping through the Suez Canal... The Azerbaijan route to Russia would rely on an as-yet-unfinished $1 billion rail link from Iran's rail network to the Azerbaijani border. Diplomats from the two countries have said that they are "seriously determined" to complete the line, so long as Azerbaijan finalizes a $500 million loan for its construction... The corridor also faces a bottleneck at Bandar Abbas, which handles the great majority of Iran's seagoing trade and suffers from severe congestion. India has long intended to develop an alternative deepwater port at Chabahar, which would give it access to Afghanistan and other nations in Central Asia via the Ashgabat agreement, a multimodal transport deal involving Oman, Iran, India, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. India signed on in March; the multimodal route would connect Central Asia to the Persian Gulf... 
(Map courtesy Wikimedia: The North-South transportation corridor, in red)  --  Moscow, Russia - Maritime Executive (Florida/USA) - 10 Aug 2016

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 12:41 PM  0 comments

Jul 4, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURE * France: The highways are seeking future

* Paris - Fluidity, safety, environment and interoperability

--- Private motorway companies will invest € 3.27 billion in the work and development that will run for eight years. Beyond these projects, they aim to participate in the new laws of "intelligent mobility"... Between 2016 and 2024, the main motorway concession (APRR, Cofiroute, AWS, Sanef ...) will spend € 3.27 billion in several projects on their networks... Fluidity improved traffic levels higher security, environmental integration, interoperability ...  are the work areas claimed by the concession companies, wishing to place at the heart of "mobility of tomorrow" and that the financial resources (9.4 € billion in revenue in 2015, against € 8.4 billion in 2011)... Stresses ASFA, referring to a survey published in June 2016 indicating that 86% of French expect that French motorways are fully digitized and connected in 2050. Among them, 68% consider it a priority payment of tolls without barriers. This is one of the services highlighted for heavy weight of 3.5 tons... In 2016, 3,008 km of track are equipped for electronic tolling, with a number of subscribers rose by almost 50% between 2010 and 2015 (from 493,000 to 733,000 subscribers PL-tis), with an average of 226 transactions per card per year. The non-stop electronic toll collection is also part of future developments, which team is 180 toll gates on 598 nonstop routes... Recall that on highways, trucks represent 32% of revenues and 14% of traffic. In 2015, it generated € 2.89 billion of consecutive revenue to 173 million transactions (+ 2.7% compared to 2014)... 
Paris, France - WK, T & L - 1 July 2016

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 5:50 PM  0 comments

May 10, 2016

TRUCKS ONLY LANES. USA: * California - ** Georgia: Trucks-only roadway

* California - Truckers call for dedicated truck lanes as freight expected to double
... With goods movement from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach expected to double in the next decade, logistics industry experts are looking at ways to address an expected tsunami of freight through the region’s already congested freeways and streets... Among the infrastructure improvement ideas being applauded by local truckers rolling through Southern California and the Inland Empire are efforts by transportation officials to widen the freeways, fix potholes and a proposal to introduce dedicated truck lanes... Dedicated truck toll lanes have been proposed by Southern California transportation officials, but to build them, according to SanBAG’s online post, the public cost is likely to exceed $5 billion, of which at least $1.2 billion would be for truck lanes within San Bernardino County... Transportation California, an industry-based advocacy group in Sacramento, has been advocating for additional investment for infrastructure expansion to address increased traffic in the years to come...
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images: Traffic congestion was the second-worst in the country in the greater Los Angeles area)  --  San Bernardino, CAL, USA - S.B. Sun, by Neil Nisperos/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - 7 May 2016


** Georgia - Plans $2 Billion truck-only roadway to fight traffic bottleneck
--- Georgia plans to build two lanes limited to trucks along 38 miles of Interstate 75, a heavily travelled freight corridor south of Atlanta. It will be the largest truck-only project in the nation and is expected to cost $2 billion. When the roadway is completed – expected in 2030 – the state may consider adding additional truck-only lanes in the opposite direction... Truck-only lanes are usually reserved for short distances, such as moving heavy vehicles out of the way of faster car traffic climbing hills... No state has attempted what Georgia is doing without utilizing tolling or public-private highway building partnerships as a way to pay for the truck-only lanes, he said... Such lanes, in one of the most congested sections of the nation for freight, are badly needed, according to the trucking industry... 
(Photo by Brian Hadden/Trucks.com - Commercial trucks approach the I-675 split on I-75 north in Georgia) -- Atlanta, GA, USA - Trucks.com, by CLARISSA HAWES - May 2, 2016

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:08 AM  0 comments

Oct 28, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS * USA: Expert questions whether more lanes will cut traffic

* Connecticut - The state argues that the widening is just one part of the plan

-- It's known as the fundamental law of road congestion, and it boils down to this — you can't build your way out of traffic jams. Building more lanes on a highway leads, somewhat counterintuitively, to more traffic, as people who might otherwise avoid the road are instead attracted by the added capacity. The result is highways at four lanes quickly becoming just as clogged as they ever were with three... State transportation officials are well aware of this phenomenon, and don't question its premise. Still, they have plans to spend tens of billions of dollars to widen Interstates 95 and 84, which, combined with other facets of a 30-year plan, they say will finally help tame the Connecticut traffic beast... In addition, there's no way to control highway use without introducing tolls, with different prices at various times to discourage peak-time driving... 
(Photo: AP/The Connecticut Post, by Hugh Bailey - "You do get some relief just by widening. And you get some just by congestion pricing. The two in combination, we've seen in our studies can make a big impact," said Maziarz of the DOT)   --  Bridgeport, CONN, USA - The Trucker - 26 Oct 2015

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 4:29 AM  0 comments

Jan 22, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Australia

* Victoria - Straight to Work: 5,000 Trucks Off the West Gate


Melbourne,VIC,Australia -Premier of Victoria -21 January 2015: -- The Andrews Labor Government is getting straight to work on the project to take 5000 trucks off the West Gate Bridge every day, calling for expressions of interest to build the first stage of the new West Gate Distributor... The $500 million West Gate Distributor will take trucks to the Port of Melbourne via a new dedicated road link, easing congestion for city bound traffic from Geelong, Ballarat and the western suburbs... The West Gate Distributor is part of Project 10,000 – the Labor Government’s plan to reduce road congestion, transform our public transport system and create 10,000 Victorian jobs... The $40 million first stage of the project includes widening Moreland St, installing a new signalised intersection at Footscray Rd and Moreland St, and widening and strengthening the Shepherd Bridge over the Maribyrnong River to add additional lanes... The upgrades to Footscray Rd and the Shepherd Bridge will eliminate bottlenecks and increase the flow of traffic and the efficiency of freight. Safe, dedicated lanes for cyclists will also be built... Over the next 20 years, the number of commercial vehicles travelling on the West Gate Bridge is expected to double and the number of truck visits to the busy Swanson Dock is expected to increase to 12,000 each day...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 8:05 PM  0 comments

Sep 24, 2014

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: Tappan Zee Bridge

* New York - Toll confusion has Tappan Zee drivers seeing red

(Photo: Lawmakers, rating agencies and commuters have all expressed concerns about just how high the toll might be when the new span across the Hudson River 25 miles north of Manhattan is completed)
Albany,N.Y.,USA -The Associated Press, by DAVID KLEPPER -22 Sept 2014: -- At $3.9 billion, the new Tappan Zee Bridge is one of the most expensive public works projects in U.S. history. Yet even a year into construction, New York hasn't detailed how it plans to pay for it and how much will be passed on to motorists in the form of tolls... Anxiety over bridge financing deepened this past week when the Environmental Protection Agency balked at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to use $511 million in federal clean water loans on the project... And Cuomo himself later dismissed another creative financing suggestion: tapping some of the billions of dollars New York has collected in recent months in legal settlements over alleged wrongdoing by banks and insurance companies... State officials won't provide their estimates for the toll — currently $5 — that will be needed to make payments on the bonds and loans that will finance construction, though figures of $9 and as high as $14 have been mentioned. Some motorists worry the toll could even approach $20, which would make it among the most expensive crossings in the nation...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:41 AM  0 comments

Jul 26, 2013

* Federal Coalition’s plan for Infrastructure Australia

* ACT - Making road funding decisions for the long term

(Photo: ANZAC Bridge)
Canberra,ACT,Australia -ATA Friday facts -26 July 2013: -- The Federal Coalition’s plan for Infrastructure Australia would help governments see beyond the electoral cycle and make road funding decisions for the long term, ATA Chairman, David Simon, said today... The Coalition released its Infrastructure Australia plan yesterday. Under the plan, Infrastructure Australia would be responsible for auditing Australia’s infrastructure asset base. It would revise the audit every five years and use it in the development of its 15-year infrastructure project pipeline... David said Infrastructure Australia should also be responsible for advising governments on target standards for each tier of the road network, to guide road investment, maintenance and access decisions...  


* ACT - ATA calls for road supply reform 

Forrest,ACT,Australia -ATA Friday Facts -26 July 2913: -- The Heavy Vehicle Charging and Investment Reform project (HVCI) should take up the short-term recommendations from the independent A future strategy for road supply and charging in Australia report, the ATA has said in its latest submission... Commissioned by the ATA last year, the report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) found that the biggest gains in road transport efficiency would come from road agency reform... ATA National Policy Manager, David Coonan, said the PWC report provided comprehensive and practical guidance for governments to achieve better value for road users... The submission also recommends implementing a system for independent reviews of road access decisions, as well as the completion of the government PBS maps...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 5:22 AM  0 comments

Feb 21, 2013

INSFRASTRUCTURES PLANS * USA

* DC - White House outlines plan for $50 Billion in infrastructure spending

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics-20 Feb 2013: -- The White House on Wednesday outlined a set of infrastructure proposals, including $40 billion for a “fix-it-first” policy to prioritize repairing existing roads, bridges and other facilities before building new ones, as part of a $50 billion total plan... The announcement follows President Obama’s State of the Union address last week in which he said infrastructure spending would be a priority in his second term that also would create jobs... In total, the president’s plan calls for $50 billion in infrastructure spending, plus actions to attract private investment, cut permit timelines for projects and create a national infrastructure bank to help fund projects... The statement said President Obama also continues to back the creation of a bipartisan infrastructure bank, which would have the ability to leverage public and private capital to support infrastructure projects of national and regional significance...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 5:15 PM  0 comments

Feb 23, 2012

INFRASTRUCTURES * Europe

* Belgium - Smart road charging test changes mobility behavior in

Leuven,Belgium -Fleet Europe, by Steven Schoefs -15 Feb 2012: -- The city of Leuven in Belgium, and a consortium of companies including IBM, NXP, Touring, Mobistar, Magic View, NSL and Transport and Mobility Leuven (TML), presented the results of the pilot project "Smart Mobility". Two years ago, the consortium introduced the technology that enables national, regional or local government to guide their mobility policy. During a test project, where drivers were fictively charged for the use of their car, there was a change in the mobility behaviour. The test results show that a smart road charging changes the mobility behaviour of users, reduces traffic congestion and that the government can use this system to guide and adjust its mobility policy... Over half of the drivers improved their personal behaviour by opting to drive cheaper. But three-quarters of them relapsed after the road charging was suspended. All subjects together drove 5% less on local roads during peak periods, and in total about 60% of the time they drove during off peak periods. The test persons also thought about alternative forms of transport such as cycling or public transport and when possible they tried to avoid the rush hours on the road...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:20 AM  0 comments

Sep 11, 2011

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Much ado about transportation, and infrastructure bank

Highway users including truckers are concerned that the cost of travel will continue to increase

(Photo from heatingoil: Trucks-on-highway)
Washington,DC,USA -Land Line, by David Tanner -9 Sept 2011:  --  President Obama is proposing to spend $50 billion on infrastructure immediately and come up with another $10 billion to start a national infrastructure bank for significant projects. While highway users applaud the positive talk about investment, they have cause for concern as to how the projects would be paid for...  President Obama’s address to the House and Senate: ...  “Pass this jobs bill, and we can put people to work rebuilding America. Everyone here knows we have badly decaying roads and bridges all over the country. Our highways are clogged with traffic. Our skies are the most congested in the world. It’s an outrage...   Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us a economic superpower. And now we’re going to sit back and watch China build newer airports and faster railroads? At a time when millions of unemployed construction workers could build them right here in America?" ...  OOIDA leadership says it’s good to see the administration focusing on transportation infrastructure, but like other proposals that have come before, this one still lacks a “pay for” mechanism...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:59 AM  0 comments

Jan 19, 2011

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - 'Superstreet' concept shows promise in real-world test

The central concept to the superstreet design is a thoroughfare, a stream of constantly moving traffic that follows a main arterial road


Raleigh,N.Carolina,USA -Gizmag, by Grant Banks -January 12, 2011: -- No left turn. That is the simple concept behind the Superstreet traffic design which promises significantly faster travel times, plus a drastic reduction in auto-collisions and injuries...  Researchers from the North Carolina State University have been the first to test the concept in the real world and the results are promising... The researchers assessed travel time at superstreet intersections as the amount of time it takes a vehicle to pass through an intersection from the moment it reaches the intersection – whether traveling left, right or straight ahead. The travel-time data were collected from three superstreets located in eastern and central North Carolina, all of which have traffic signals. The superstreet collision data were collected from 13 superstreets located across North Carolina, none of which have traffic signals...  (Photo: "Superstreet" traffic designs result in faster travel times and significantly fewer accidents, according to the new study. Credit: Dr. Joe Hummer, North Carolina State University)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 12:20 PM  0 comments

Dec 4, 2010

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - County to be first to install solar highway

Santa Clara Coounty,CAL,USA -Morgan Hill Times, by Michael Moore -Nov 18, 2010: -- A "solar highway" project on its way to South Santa Clara County will add a significant new source of clean energy to the grid, add revenue and reduce costs for public agencies and create jobs, according to the developers... San Jose-based Republic Cloverleaf Solar is working with the California Department of Transportation to install a 15-megawatt solar power system consisting of 64,000 photovoltaic panels, and occupying about 65 acres of land at seven intersections along U.S. 101, from Masten Avenue in San Martin to Branham Lane in San Jose... The pilot solar highway project will be the first of its kind in California, and is intended to demonstrate how clean electricity can be generated on the state's thousands of miles of state-owned freeway interchanges... The project is funded entirely by the private developer...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:56 AM  0 comments

Oct 26, 2010

INFRASTRUCTURES' PLAN * UK - DfT green lights 24 road schemes

London,UK -Road Transport, by Dominic Perry -26 October 2010: -- Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, has today given the go-ahead for a further 16 road and public transport schemes in the DfT's National Infrastructure Plan...   Along with the eight schemes announced by the Chancellor last week, work will begin on a total of 24 schemes as a result of the Department for Transport's spending review...   The schemes given the green light today, subject to statutory processes, will deliver major upgrades to relieve congestion at the following locations either through widening or managed motorways schemes...


* UK - Road upgrades are ‘drivers of growth’, says Hammond

London,UK -The Financial Times, by Jim Pickard -October 26 2010: -- Philip Hammond gave the go-ahead to 16 more road and bus improvements as he promised to spend £5.9bn on “unglamorous but important” transport upgrades...   The transport secretary picked out the schemes, which include improvements to parts of the most congested motorways, because they were “key drivers” of growth. “Each pound we spend on these schemes will generate on average £6 of benefits,” he told the House of Commons...   Those schemes given the green light include the heavily congested M6 by Birmingham, the M62 near Leeds, parts of the M1 in the East Midlands and the completion of the upgrade of the M25 round London...   Other projects that were confirmed – subject to a final offer from councils – include a package of “sustainable transport improvements” in Ipswich, upgrades to the M5 near Exeter and a bypass north of Lancaster. These are in addition to eight approved schemes in the review...   Many councils must bid for a pot of £600m of funding for numerous other schemes, with a decision due in January. These include 22 projects that have already passed a value-for-money assessment and 34 that have not yet been assessed...   Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said the Highways Agency was facing 34 per cent cuts in its budget despite a flat cash-terms settlement for capital spending on transport. “Once again ministers have failed to have regard for the way most people travel – on the roads,” Prof Glaister complained...    (Images from icnetwork.co.uk: RTA near junction 4 of the M6 heading towards Birmingham Queueing traffic heading back towards the M1)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:35 PM  0 comments