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South Africa suffered poor safety levels for motorcyclists during 2018, with a 9% increase in fatalities compared to 2017. During 2018 there were 183 fatalities amongst motorcycle drivers and passengers in South Africa, compared to 166 in 2017. Meanwhile there were 508 powered two wheeler riders seriously injured in 2018, compared with 521 the previous year. Of those killed or seriously injured in crashes, 651 were male and 58 were female in 2018, compared with 631 males and 56 females killed or seriously i

Funding has been secured from Japan to help pay for construction of the Thanlyin Bridge No 3 project in Myanmar. A loan worth US$282.5 million is being provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Construction is due to start in March 2019 and should take until 2023 to complete. The new bridge will form part of Asia’s new East-West Economic Corridor.

The Czech Republic has seen an increase in the road casualty rate during 2018. In all 571 people were killed on the country’s roads in 2018, an increase of 69 from 2017. This was the highest level of road fatalities in the countries for the last three years. August and September had the highest level of fatal road crashes. Of note too is that the Czech Republic has a particularly poor record for motorcycle crashes, with the highest percentage/head of population of any EU nation.

A number of major road and bridge projects are now commencing in China. In Sichuan Province an environmental impact assessment report is being carried out for the Jigzhi-Barkam highway project. Work is starting shortly on the highway, which will stretch 224km and is expected to cost US$4.3 billion to construct. The report is being carried out by the province’s Ecology and Environment Agency. This new highway will provide many challenges to construction due to the topography of the route and will feature 190

LafargeHolcim has been awarded infrastructure contracts worth more than US$73.5 million as part of a major Highway 1 improvement project in Vancouver, Canada. Highway 1 – also called the TransCanada Highway – is a vital economic link for many local, regional and provincial towns and cities across the country, from the Atlantic to Pacific coasts. For the work in the Vancouver area, LafargeHolcim will be the prime contractor as awarded by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for the provinc

A new highway connection between Serbia and Bosnia has been awarded to a Turkish contractor. The €250 million project will be carried out by the Turkish firm, Tasyapi. The project will see a new highway connecting Belgrade with Sarajevo in Bosnia. Building the new highway will improve transport connections between the two cities, reducing journey time and boosting both capacity and safety.

A new programme of road development in Moscow will see around 500km of roads being built by 2023. In addition, the programme will see work on 100 transport infrastructure projects and 50 pedestrian crossings. This will continue the programme that has seen around 100km of roads being built in Moscow each year since 2015. The plans have seen an increase in road works. During 2018, 127km of roads were built.

In the Philippines, a proposal has been made for the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) to be extended. The US$441.6 million project is for a 59.4km extension to the TPLEx route. The proposal has been put forward by San Miguel Corp (SMC). The highway extension would help improve transportation to the north of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The work would extend the route to San Juan from Rosario. The work would be carried out in three stages, with one 18.4km section between San Juan and

Strabag is to modernise nearly 15km of the D1 motorway in the Czech Republic under a contract worth nearly €73 million. Work includes complete renewal of the cement concrete surface between Velký Beranov and Měřín to be done within three years. Working on the project are the consortium leader Strabagm based in Austria, and its two partner companies Metrostav and EUROVIA’s Czech subsidiary. The project will begin with a temporary widening of the motorway in the direction of Prague to allow full reno

Plans are now being drawn up in India for the new Ganga River bridge crossing project. Costing US$395.3 million, the project has now been given the necessary approval by India’s prime minister. Construction is expected to take 40 months once work is underway, with completion due in 2023. The main bridge will measure 5,634m however the work includes building a 1,580m viaduct, 13 interchanges, four smaller bridges and a 110m flyover. It also includes four vehicular underpasses and a rail over bridge.

A series of highway projects have been budgeted for China’s Henan Province. In all some US$15.8 billion will be spent on 14 separate highway projects, which will stretch in excess of 1,000km in all. The projects are starting in 2022. The work includes building seven cross-provincial highways, three urban highways and two Zhengzhou City highways. They also include building two Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway diversion highways.

Major highway and bridge contracts have been awarded in California. The work will be carried out by Granite Construction. The firm will work on the US$113 million Cosumnes Bridge Replacement Project in Sacramento County. The company will also carry out the $410 million Highway 101 Carpinteria to Santa Barbara Project. This last involves upgrading a 17.4km stretch of the route, installing HOV lanes between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. The company will remove a railway underpass and will replace four existi