Features

An alliance of companies has come together to realise major infrastructure projects in Latvia including its biggest bridge. Patrick Smith reports. Riga, the Latvian capital, has the finest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe and its centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city of some 750,000 people (the country's total population is 2.2 million) is bounded to the south by Lithuania and to the north by Estonia, and is the second largest in Baltic States. To the east is Russia and Belarus.

Results show the state of Europe's tunnel infrastructure at its 'most sublime and most depressing quality' as Patrick Smith reports. EuroTAP [European Tunnel Assessment Programme] 2010 has unveiled the results of inspections conducted earlier this year in 26 major tunnels in 13 European countries. The on site inspections, carried out between 12 April and 20 May, 2010, are said to indicate that an "alarming number of operational tunnels across Europe will not be ready to comply with EU tunnel safety rules wh

Construction work on the longest bridge in Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. Malaysia and South-East Asia is well underway. When completed, the cable-stayed bridge will have a two-lane carriageway and a motorcycle lane in each direction, and will connect Batu Kawan on the mainland to Seberang Perai and Batu Maung on Penang Island. The main span will be 250m long with a length over water of 17km and a 30m height above the water. Costing an estimated US$1.5 billion the 24km long bridge is being b

Praslin, the second-largest of the Seychelles Islands with roughly 6,500 inhabitants, is a tropical paradise of white sandy beaches, dense jungle and crystal clear seas. Tourism is the island's main source of income, and luxury tourism at that. A road had to be diverted for a new five-star hotel and property development project which will create jobs for around 400 people. The road would have obstructed the residents' access to the sea. Sey-Afrique Exporters from Pinetown, South Africa, won the contra

The new Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (ORR) project is a 158km eight-lane highway encircling the Andhra Pradesh city. It has been designed to relieve congestion in and around the city and to act as a hub for accessing India's national highway network, and is being built for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. Indian contractor Ramky Infrastructure is relying on an Atlas Copco MB 1700 hydraulic breaker to break granite as aggregates at a quarry site adjacent to the new road. The rock is bein

Shem Oirere reports on plans for a major highway to Rwanda to other parts of Africa Construction of a 78km highway stretch that links Rwanda to the rest of Eastern Africa will start in May. State Minister in Charge of Transport Dr Alex. Nzahabwanimana said the contract for the US$54 million project has already been awarded to German construction company Strabag International.

Winter weather often brings traffic chaos, and authorities have to be ready to tackle it as Patrick Smith reports. Good winter maintenance is rarely noticed, and it is only when things go wrong that it becomes a public issue. "When sudden bouts of cold weather bring traffic chaos, icy roads receive high-profile coverage and local authorities are criticised, often unfairly, for not affording greater protection," says the Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA), the UK's top trade body for road mainten

The South Interoceanic Road is a path of integration and development: it is also a GRAA 2011 Winning Project . On 24 January, 2012 the International Road Federation formally presented a Global Road Achievement Award (GRAA) in. the Programme Management category to Concesionaria Interoceánica Sur Tramos 2 y 3, S.A. for its leadership in the provision of integrated services as part of a large-scale transportation infrastructure programme. IIRSA Sur Concessionaire - Stretches 2 & 3, builds, provides maintenanc