News

The Polish government has put the planned 570km Via Carpatia – Expressway S19 – on a priority list and wants it finished by 2023. The government also increased the budget for building roads by €6.7 billion to €32.1 billion. The announcements are part of the National Road Construction Programme (PBDK).

The European Commission will provide €25 million for renovation of the 7.8k-long Karawanks Tunnel, a motorway link between Austria and Slovenia. The Karawanks is a 120km-long mountain range between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. Around €6.5 million will go towards planning and €18 million will be set aside for reconstruction.

Lane Construction Corporation has won a US$76 million contract to widen a section of State Road 408 in Orange County, Florida.The project entails adding a thirds lane to each carriageway over a 5.2km stretch of SR408. It will also involve widening a ramp from two lanes to three lanes, adding sound walls as well as extra open road tolling - ORT - lanes.

Atlas Copco has announced Power Technique as the new name of its Construction Technique business area. This has been chosen as the name because power is recognised by customers as the key characteristic of the core product categories in the portfolio; air, power (including light) and flow. The business area will serve multiple customer segments including construction, industrial, drilling, oil and gas and petrochemicals. The change is effective immediately. “Construction customers will always be close to ou

A new six lane highway connection in Pakistan is expected to be complete in 36 months. A Chinese firm, China State Construction Engineering, is to handle the project for the 393km highway, which runs from Sukkur to Multan. Financing for the project is being provided by the Chinese Government and the work is expected to cost close to US$2.8 billion in all. The highway will form a key link in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will help improve transport across Asia. The highway project is com

Cambodia is hoping to start work on a new expressway running from capital Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville in late 2017. The 190km expressway is expected to cost in excess of US$1.5 billion and the project has been planned by Cambodia’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Once the new expressway is complete, it will improve transport and reduce journey times along the route between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, while also improving safety for road users.

A new twin tube tunnel in Mexico City will help reduce the city’s chronic congestion problem, which is particularly acute at peak travel periods. The tunnel is located at Mixcoac in the south west of the city and should be ready by August 2017. The new twin bore tunnel link will reduce traffic jams on the city’s Circuito Interior urban highway, which handles up to 300,000 vehicles/hour at peak travel periods. Mexico City’s traffic jams are notorious and journey times can be infuriatingly long at times.

Strong demand for construction machines is being reported by the German equipment manufacturing association, the VDMA. Its report says that following a good start to 2017, the upward trend has continued for the construction and building equipment industry.