News

Atkins, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is providing construction management services for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA).

STRABAG has won the tendering process for a €125 million expressway construction contract in Hungary. The package of works is for the construction of the R76 expressway in western Hungary. The contract will involve building an 8.6km section of expressway along with a number of overbridges and will take 36 months to complete. The work is being carried out for the state-owned firm NIF Zrt. This will be the first section of the R76 expressway, running from Zalaegerszeg to the M7 motorway and the work will incl

French transport minister Elisabeth Borne is considering a tax on new cars to boost funds for road maintenance, according to media reports. Media reports that the country, once the top-ranked country for the condition of its roads, has dropped to seventh place due to issues over maintenance leading to an increased risk to users.

A consortium of BAM-PGGM and HABAU has been appointed preferred bidder for extension of Germany’s A10-A24 motorway from Neuruppin to Pankow, near Brandenburg. The public-private partnership deal covering nearly 65km is worth around €1 billion over the 30 years of the contract, according to infrastructure project management company DEGES.

A loan worth €71 million will help pay for a 30km highway project in Kosovo. .

Mott MacDonald has developed a Motorway to Motorway (M2M) metering pilot scheme. This has been developed for Highways England and is being trialled between junction 21A of the M6 and junction 10 of the M62. The project is intended to smooth traffic flows and reduce the number of queues that occur because of congestion.

The safety of rail crossings is being questioned in France. This follows a fatal collision involving a school bus and a train. Five of the children on the bus were killed in the crash, with another 18 people being injured, including 14 children. The bus had been carrying 20 children when it was involved in the collision with the train, at a crossing close to the Spanish border and around 18km west of Perpignan. The crossing is said to have been functioning correctly according to the French rail operator, SN

The project to construct the Via Expresa road project in Peru looks likely to be further postponed. Construction of the link, in Peru’s Cusco Region, was to have commenced in the first quarter of 2017. The project was to have been partly paid for by a loan from the World Bank worth US$110 million but first payments for the funding package were delayed. The local authorities are now considering cancelling the loan package altogether and finding another funding source, although this could affect the region’s

Pakistan’s Bharma Bahatar-DI Khan motorway project is proceeding on track.

Road in the area around Mindanao in the Philippines will benefit from the provision of a loan worth US$380 million. This funding package is being supplied by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The loan will be used for the Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector project. This is intended to improve and upgrade up to 280km of roads in the area. A further $123 million is being provided by the Philippines Government for the work, which will cost $503 million in all.

The number of older drivers on the US road network continues to increase. According to the latest data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the number of drivers on the US road network hit a record- high in 2016 at 221.7 million. Of these, 41.7 million are 65 years or older. This age group is growing faster than any other, and is far outpacing their teenage counterparts.

Work on a new bridge crossing over the Rhine River is now commencing. The site of the bridge lies close to Leverkusen and the link will carry traffic for the A1 Autobahn route. The new bridge will replace an existing structure that is in a poor state, as well as being unable to cope with current traffic demand. The project to build the new bridge however has been subject to some legal issues as its construction requires supports to be erected on a former landfill site thought to contain industrial contamina

A complex construction contract is being considered for Colombia’s capital, Bogota. Work is expected to commence for the Avenida Longitudinal de Occidente (ALO) south road project in 2019. This 24km dual carriageway link will be complex to construct as it will feature 46 bridges, as well as two intersections. Construction work is expected to cost in the region of US$336 million. The work will be carried out in two sections, with a 14.4km link from the Bogota River to the Muna Intersection. However the feasi

Work on highway upgrading will commence in Argentina’s Jujuy Province in 2018. In all 93km of the National Routes 34, 66 and IV66 will be improved and upgraded in the project. The World Bank is providing a loan worth US$300 million to pay for the work, which is expected to cost $311 million in all.