News

Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transport is looking to inject US$84.2 million into the Road Studies and Projects Programme in 2018. The studies are geared towards increasing the efficiency of the national road agency Direccion General de Carreteras to keep projects on budget and improve the record of completion times for new roads and upgrade works. During 2018, the agency will be conducting studies related to 14 projects as part of the National Infrastructure Programme and 91 projects inc

The reinforced Chambon Tunnel in the southeast French Alps region will open on schedule by the end of the year. The tunnel, which carries the D1091, was partially reopened at the end of last year following a landslide in 2015 along the mountain through with the bore is located. Local media report that from the end of this month, the tunnel will be closed again for the final phase of lining work. The road connects Bourg d’Oisans and the Col du Lautaret and Col du Galibier.

Construction has started on the final section of the bypass around Vologda, a city of around 305,000 on the Vologda River in northwest Russia. Russian media report that the first three phases of the project have been launched. The total cost of the works is US$219 million.

Engineering, environment and design consultancy Sweco UK has won the contract as the lead consultant on the Cross Tay Link Road project near Perth, Scotland. Sweco UK was appointed by Perth & Kinross Council under a €3.86 million contract as parat of the on the project whose value is around €124.5 million. Phase two of four of the Perth Transport Futures Project includes the realignment of a section of the A9 trunk road and provision of a bridge across the River Tay – the third across the river - and over t

The UK’s CEA - Construction Equipment Association – has appointed David Bell, a director of JCB, as the trade association’s first honorary president. Bell joined JCB in 1974 as a graduate trainee, following an engineering apprenticeship at Rolls Royce in the city of Derby. During his 43-year career at JCB, Bell has held a variety of senior roles, including managing director of JCB sales and service, JCB agriculture, JCB’s backhoe loader and telescopic handler. He was also group human resources direct

AECOM, Arcadis-WSP/PB, CH2M-Fairhurst and Highways England are among the finalists for this year’s Bentley awards for outstanding use of BIM – building information modelling. Bentley Systems, a provider of infrastructure software solutions, said that the winners will be announced at The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference to be held in Singapore this year, October 10-12. “The annual awards honour the extraordinary work of Bentley users advancing infrastructure design, construction, and operations through

A consortium including engineering design group Obermeyer Helika has won a consultancy contract for a planned D4 motorway project in the Czech Republic. Construction of the 32km Milin-Mirotice motorway section, a public-private partnership, is scheduled to start in 2019. A PPP might be also used for the Prague-Chomutov D7 section.

The Indonesian government is courting private investment and encouraging bids for major projects on Madura, an island off the northeastern coast of Java, another island. Madura is part of the East Java province and is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura. The first project would be a 15.3km toll bridge costing likely around US$160 million which would allow access to a planned port, said Herman Hidayat, acting head of the Surabaya-Madura Development Agency.

Poland’s road authority GDDKiA said that five groups have tendered for construction of a 17.5km section of the S61 Expressway. The section runs from Podborze junction to Sniadowo junction and all bids fall within the investor's budget of around €146 million. The lowest offer reportedly was from a Rubau Polska consortium, at around €112 million, while the highest bid was lodged by Budimex at around €139 million.

A series of road projects is being awarded in Nepal. The announcements over the winning tenders for 13 projects is being made in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. Financing worth US$300 million is being provided from Indian sources.