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The Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure has released details of its plans for road infrastructure projects worth €2 billion by the end of 2016. The ministry aims to increase the efficiency of its road construction programme, compared with the last 10 years. Improving relations with its neighbours means that international links will be upgraded. Both Serbia and its neighbours have made strong efforts to boost ties and cross border transport is expected to grow as the diplomatic tha

Austria’s Arlberg Tunnel is now on track for its planned upgrade. The work will focus on improving safety, in line with European requirements. The twin tube tunnel will benefit from new emergency exists and areas in which broken down vehicles can be parked, as well as sophisticated heat detection technology to provide alerts for vehicle fires and spraying systems. In all the upgrade work is likely to cost some €136 million. The work will be carried out by the PKE-Jäger-BEMO-Hinteregger partnership.

The World Bank is providing a US$133.54 million grant to Yemen. The funds will help pay for construction of the first phase of a 710km long highway. This new road will connect Sa’ada in the north of the country to the port city of Aden. The highway looks likely to be constructed in three phases. The first phase will be for a 140km stretch from Aden to Taiz. The project will cost some $2 billion. Another tranche of financial backing for the project will come from the Saudi Development Fund.

Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam looks set to benefit from 14 infrastructure projects costing a total of US$9.44 billion. One of the key projects will be to improve and repair Luong Dinh Cua Street while another is for the building of the new Ha Noi Expressway-Eastern Ring Road link road. Loan facilities are being provided by the Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Bank (SHB) to Phu My Construction (PMC). The construction programme also includes the Rach Chiec Bridge, five elevated highways and the Southern Ring Road. The

Demolition work is progressing on track on the old Innerbelt Bridge in the US city of Cleveland and spanning the Cuyahoga River. At present a demolition contractor is breaking up the structure in stages, using cutting gear and cranes to remove portions of the bridge in a phased programme of works. Once the demolition moves to a certain stage in a few months, the contractor will then be able to use explosives to demolish the remaining structure. Four of the truss bridge’s nine spans are being dismantled usi

A loan being provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will help pay for road upgrades in the Kyrgyz Republic. The money will be used to improve and upgrade the Osh-Batken-Isfana highway. The US$100 million loan is to the Kyrgyz Republic Government for a period of 40 years at 0.25%/year, with a grace period of 10 years.

In Colombia the firm Estructura Plural Mario Alberto Huertas-Constructora MECO has been awarded the Girardot-Puerto Salgar 4G highway concession. The US$674 million concession was awarded following a short delay due to legal complexities by Colombia's national infrastructure agency ANI, reports Business News Americas. The 214km Girardot-Puerto Salgar highway is in central Colombia and the concession package includes the construction of 190km of the route, of which 22km will be totally new. A 135km stretch w

In Hong Kong plans are moving forward with regard to the construction of the new Lam Tin Tunnel. The tunnel will be around 2.6km long and form the major stretch of a new 4.2km road link connecting Lam Tin with Tseung Kwan O South. The Tseung Kwan O to Lam Tin Tunnel project also includes the construction of a number of interchanges, pedestrian walkways and cycle lanes. A key segment of the work is the construction of a 1.2km single one-lane slip road partly in the form of tunnel connecting Tseung Kwan O and

Parsons has won the Project of the Year award for the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore project. The tunnel was selected as Project of the Year by the California Transportation Foundation’s (CTF’s) 25th Annual Transportation Awards. The US$417 million tunnel has added two additional traffic lanes on State Route 24 through Berkeley Hills. The new tunnel links the cities of Oakland and Orinda and helps reduce congestion in the Bay Area, which is noted for its heavy traffic volumes. Parsons had responsibility for p

The Laos Government is planning to build a network of six interlinked roads that will cost in the order of US$3.98 billion. The Laos Ministry of Public Works and Transport says that the network will comprise some existing roads that will be upgraded to meet Asean highway standards, as well as new road sections. In total this new network will measure some 2,374km long. One of the six new highways will be built using the routes of the existing Road No 7 and Road No R3, connecting the province of Bokeo and the