Transport & Infrastructure News and Discussions

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There could be an underwater tunnel linking Europe and Africa by 2030

Written by Liv Kelly
Friday 3 May 2024

If you thought the bridge between Italy and Sicily sounded ambitious, think again. Thanks in part to the 2030 World Cup and the opening of Morocco’s Al Boraq high-speed railway, it sounds like another pioneering transport project might actually be going ahead.

We’re talking about an underwater tunnel connecting Spain and Morocco. Yes, you read that right. The two countries – both set to host the 2030 World Cup along with Portugal – could be connected by a subaqueous railway.

These ambitions have been kicking about for a long time, with a Strait of Gibraltar tunnel first being proposed way back in 1930. However, this week, the Moroccan National Company for Strait Studies said work was being done to establish the financial and strategic elements required to actually build it.

What we know so far is that the underwater section of the tunnel would span 28km and, at its deepest point, would reach 475m below sea level. The route would connect Punta Paloma, west of Tarifa in southern Spain, with Malabata, just east of Tangier in northern Morocco.

According to the Telegraph, it’s estimated that once built, the two tunnels could transport 12.8 million passengers per year, along with 13 million tonnes of cargo. There’ll also be a third maintenance tunnel constructed, and as with any rail project, there’s the massive perk of slashed journey times.

https://www.timeout.com/news/there-coul ... 030-050324

[Time_Traveller]

Transport secretary considers ban on floating bus stops in UK cycle lanes

Fri 10 May 2024 14.29 BST



Ministers are considering banning a standard design feature for cycle lanes, the Guardian has learned, in a move campaign groups warn could make building separated bike routes on many main roads in effect impossible, and put riders at risk.

Mark Harper, the transport secretary, is examining whether there should be a halt in the use of what are known as floating bus stops, where a segregated bike lane is routed behind a bus stop and passengers cross the cycle lane to reach it.

These have been used very widely in other European countries for years, and in some UK cities for more than a decade. They allow cyclists to keep out of the way of buses, which regularly pull in and out, which makes the routes safer, and the bike lanes are more likely to be used by children and less confident cyclists.

However, there has been criticism of the design of some of the UK examples – especially in London – saying they make using buses intimidating and sometimes dangerous for blind people.

The National Federation of the Blind UK (NFBUK) has campaigned strongly for the design, also known as bus stop bypasses, to be entirely banned. Harper recently met the charity and is understood to be sympathetic to the idea.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/articl ... ycle-lanes

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The following article involves just infrastructure and not transportation.


Levels of Caffeine May Help Pinpoint Polluting Wastewater Leaks in Storm Drain Systems
June 19, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) In developed countries such as Japan, wastewater systems designed to keep harmful pollutants out of storm drainage are aging and deteriorating, sending contaminants into local bodies of water. Finding the source of a leak in wastewater systems that are often buried far underground can be challenging. The conventional method can miss leaks, and it cannot detect leaks found downstream.

Researchers have proposed using the levels of caffeine, a common household pollutant that isn’t otherwise found in the environment, to find likely sources of leaks in wastewater systems. The findings were shared in a paper published in Environmental Chemistry Letters on 5 April 2024.

“For a long time, wastewater and storm runoff were combined to form sewer systems. The problem of combined sewer overflows during rainstorms has been long-standing, so the system was changed to separate the sewer from the storm drain around 50 years ago. However, even in the case of newer, separate sewer systems, the possibility of sewage leakage due to aging pipelines is becoming a concern because the oldest ones have been in the ground for five decades,” said Noriatsu Ozaki, an associate professor at Hiroshima University's Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering in Higashihiroshima, Japan.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1048755

For a presentation of study results as presented in Springer Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 4-01733-3

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It should be interesting to see if this prediction pans out in the state of Maine. There, all sorts of islands lie just offshore and are serviced either by ferries or, if they are close enough, bridges. One of my fondest memories of living in Maine was visiting a couple of those islands via ferry.

California involves relatively few offshore islands.

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Monster 310-mile automated cargo conveyor will replace 25,000 trucks
By Loz Blain
June 27, 2024

The Japanese government is planning to connect major cities with automated zero-emissions logistics links that can quietly and efficiently shift millions of tons of cargo, while getting tens of thousands of trucks off the road.

According to The Japan News, the project has been under discussion since February by an expert panel at the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ministry. A draft outline of an interim report was released Friday, revealing plans to complete an initial link between Tokyo and Osaka by 2034.

Japan's well-known population collapse issues foretell severe labor squeezes in the coming years, and one specific issue this project aims to curtail is the continuing rise in online shopping, with a forecast decline in the numbers of delivery drivers that can move goods around. The country is expecting some 30% of parcels simply won't make it from A to B by 2030, because there'll be nobody to move them.

Hence this wild logistical link, the first iteration of which the team says will move as much small cargo between Tokyo and Osaka as 25,000 trucks.

https://newatlas.com/transport/cargo-co ... logistics/

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China claims 10 world records for new bridge/tunnel sea crossing
By Michael Irving
July 01, 2024

This past weekend China opened the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a new cross-sea tunnel and bridge system located in Guangdong Province, South China. The architectural marvel apparently breaks 10 world records – albeit very specific ones.

The Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea, is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It encompasses Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong, which are separated by wide bodies of water – and that makes getting around a massive pain.
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is designed to remedy that. The link runs for 24 km (15 miles), connecting the two cities in its name which are located on opposite banks of the Pearl River estuary. It’s not one long bridge though – an underwater tunnel in the middle runs between two artificial islands, with bridges connecting each island to the city on that side.

https://newatlas.com/architecture/china ... d-records/

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Taiwan's Alishan Forest Railway Reopens After 15 Years of Suspended Operations
by Keoni Everington
July 6, 2024

Introduction:

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The century-old Alishan Forest Railway which suspended operations for 15 years after being severely damaged by typhoons resumed operations on Saturday (July 6) and will feature new luxury and tourist trains.

Further extract:

In addition, the new luxury sightseeing train the Formosensis (福森號) will begin operations on July 28, per CNA. The tour package tickets for July to September went on sale on Wednesday morning (July 3) and sold out within an hour.

The Formosensis, which took two years and nine months to build, has six carriages, each with about 17 to 18 seats. The new train's carriages feature large cypress wood panels.

The exterior is designed with black window frames adorned with red trim and 165 cm wide observation windows, complemented by classic wall lamps, curved ceilings, black iron archways, and ergonomic seats made of imported natural leather from the UK, per UDN. The interior is filled with the natural fragrance of Taiwan red cypress and Taiwan cypress, creating a retro and elegant atmosphere.

Review photographs and read more here: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5899062

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A million trees give central Dubai a 40-mile Green Spine
By Adam Williams
July 10, 2024
https://newatlas.com/architecture/urb-green-spine/

Urb is on a mission to remake Dubai's landscape into a lush paradise. Following its proposals for the Dubai Mangroves and Dubai Reefs projects, the firm's new Green Spine envisions transforming a highway in the region with trams, park areas, farms, and the planting of more than one million trees.

Assuming for the moment that it actually goes ahead, the Green Spine will have a length of 64 km (almost 40 miles) and will be centered around Dubai's Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, which is a major highway in the area.

The road will be joined by a gigantic solar panel array that will provide electricity to run an electric tram system, with enough power remaining to meet the electricity needs of approximately 130,000 homes. Bioswales (channels to control stormwater) will also be installed to help capture and manage rainwater and greywater, which is definitely a hot topic in Dubai at the moment following the recent devastating floods there.

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World's fastest brick-laying construction robot lands on American shores
By Michael Franco
July 16, 2024

A robotic truck equipped with a 105-ft (32-m) telescopic boom arm has just journeyed from Australia to Florida. Now the construction robot will get busy churning out up to 10 houses in a bid to become the employee of choice for building entire communities.

The truck and its accompanying brick-laying arm is known as the Hadrian X and has been developed by robotics company FBR, which first announced its prototype in 2015. That machine could complete a full-sized house in two days. Last year, FBR (which used to stand for Fastbrick Robotics), showed off the new Hadrian X which, at top speed, could stack 500 USA-format masonry blocks per hour.

The robotic vehicle/construction arm gets to work after it is loaded by pallets containing the blocks. Each block is then sent down a chute on the arm, painted with a quick-dry construction adhesive that takes the place of mortar, and is placed by a variable gripper at the end of the arm. Thanks to its impressive length, the arm is able to build structures that are three stories tall. Plus, because it's a robot, it never needs to sleep or take a break if the weather turns nasty, so it can chug along pretty much 24/7.

https://newatlas.com/robotics/construct ... t-america/

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Cylinder sails promise up to 90% fuel consumption cut for cargo ships
By David Szondy
July 31, 2024

https://newatlas.com/transport/cylinder ... nsumption/
Looking like a set of bridge supports that were accidentally installed on a cargo ship, a new wind-driven system by startup CoFlow Jet promises to reduce ship fuel costs by up to 90% using stationary cylinders with no moving parts.

Between rising fuel costs and increasing government mandates requiring shipping companies to go carbon neutral by 2050, there's a strong push to increase the efficiency of cargo ships while reducing their emissions. One way of doing this is to take a page from the history books and readopt sails to harness the wind.

On the surface, that makes sense. Sails have been propelling ships all over the world for millennia and were still used for commercial transport until after the Second World War. However, there are two problems with sails that have pushed them out of the cargo market for all except the most local of niches.

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Stuck Bridges and Buckling Roads − Extreme Heat is Wreaking Havoc on America’s Aging Infrastructure
by Dr. Suyun Paul Ham
August 5, 2024

Introduction:

(The Conversation) Summer 2024’s record heat is creating problems for transportation infrastructure, from roads to rails.

New York’s Third Avenue Bridge, which swings open for ship traffic on the Harlem River, was stuck for hours after its metal expanded in the heat and it couldn’t close. Roads have buckled on hot days in several states, including Washington and Wisconsin. Amtrak warned passengers to prepare for heat-related problems hours before a daylong outage between New York and New Jersey; the risks to power lines and rails during high temperatures are a growing source of delays for the train system.

It doesn’t help that the worsening heat is hitting a U.S. infrastructure system that’s already in trouble.

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. infrastructure an overall grade of C- in its latest national Infrastructure Report Card, released in 2021. While there has been some improvement – about 7.5% of U.S. bridges were in poor condition, compared with over 12% a decade earlier – many bridges are aging, making them difficult to maintain. Forty percent of the road system was considered in poor or mediocre condition, and maintenance costs have substantially increased.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/stuck-brid ... e-235851

[Time_Traveller]

Battery breakthrough could see electric planes finally take off

1 hour ago

Scientists have invented an ultra-strong and lightweight battery made from carbon fibre that they claim is energy-dense enough to power electric planes.

Billed as the world’s strongest battery, a team from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden said the material is sturdy enough to serve as a load-bearing structure, meaning it can be integrated into the design of a vehicle in order to radically reduce weight and increase range.

“We have succeeded in creating a battery made of carbon fibre composite that is as stiff as aluminium and energy-dense enough to be used commercially,” said Richa Chaudhary, a Chalmers scientist who led the research.

“Just like a human skeleton, the battery has several functions at the same time.”

The new battery design could be used in a wide range of applications, capable of halving the weight of a laptop or making a mobile phone as thin as a credit card. The researchers also claim that it could increase the range of an electric car by 70 per cent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/elec ... 10762.html

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New e-hydrofoil water taxi flies eight people over the waves
By Ben Coxworth
September 18, 2024

https://newatlas.com/marine/seabubbles- ... ater-taxi/
For several years now, French company SeaBubbles has been turning heads with its fully-enclosed Bubble battery-electric hydrofoil water taxi. Well, that li'l boat now has a significantly bigger and faster brother, in the form of the Smart Bubble.

We first heard about the original Bubble back in 2021, when it made its US debut in Miami.

At low speeds, that vessel moves through the water like any other boat, courtesy of a two-propeller electric drive system. It seats four passengers plus one pilot, and measures 5 meters long by 2.5 m wide (16.4 by 8.2 ft).

Once the Bubble reaches a speed of 6 knots (7 mph or 11 km/h), its composite fiber hull is raised out of the water on three automatically deployed carbon fiber foils – one in the front, and two in the back. It then cruises at a speed of 12 knots (14 mph or 22 km/h), utilizing gyroscopic and altitude sensors to constantly measure pitch and roll angles, automatically stabilizing itself accordingly.

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[Time_Traveller]

City development on track as first tenant confirmed

10 October 2024



The first business to move into a huge city centre development has been confirmed.

Fasthosts, one of Gloucester’s biggest employers, is moving 180 of its staff to The Forum in December.

The £107m development, which includes offices, retail space, restaurants and the city’s only four-star hotel, is nearing completion.

“We will have people working in the spaces by the end of this year, and a hotel and car park that is operational early next year,” said Peter Langly-Smith, Managing Director of developer Reef Group.

Rupert Beddell, CEO of Fasthosts, said he is "very excited" to move into the building

The Forum, part of the wider £200m pound regeneration of the city centre, is aimed at attracting cyber firms and bringing up to 1,500 jobs to the city.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07n0xgl5z5o

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Build details showcase incredible scale of Saudi Arabia's Line megacity
By Adam Williams
October 17, 2024
https://newatlas.com/architecture/line- ... on-update/

As the Line gigaproject continues to grow in the Saudi desert, some new construction details have been announced that highlight the mind-boggling challenge of turning a huge tract of rugged landscape into a futuristic megacity, including its reported use of one fifth of the entire world's currently available steel.

To recap, the Line is the key part of Saudi Arabia's Neom project, which is itself part of a larger push to transform the country's predominantly oil-based economy into a tourism-focused one as fossil fuel use is inevitably reduced in the coming years.