News

In India work is commencing on a new highway project that will boost transportation in the country. The US$135 million project is for a 193km highway linking Malavalli and Pavagada. The World Bank has provided some of the funding through the Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project (KSHIP). The work will be carried out by the Sadbhav-GKC consortium and will take some 30 months. The deal is being offered as a 10 year concession package, under the design, build finance, operate, maintain and transfer (DBF

Work is moving ahead on the plans for a new tunnel link in Hong Kong, with the detailed design work now underway. The Central Kowloon Route (CKR) is now at the detailed design stage and Hong Kong’s Highways Department has launched the three-month phase two public engagement exercise, to collect public views on the design and construction plans. The route will be 4.7km long featuring three lanes in either direction and a 3.9km long tunnel section. Construction work is set to start in 2015 and will be comple

The Colombian government and private investors is to invest US$6.66 billion (COP 12tn) in infrastructure projects like motorways, ports and El Dorado airport in the next two years. Around $2 billion (COP 3.6tn) will be spent on motorways, and a further $666 million (COP 1.2tn) on other road works. More than 8,000kms of new motorways will be built in the next six years.

Polish regional government of the Podlaskie Voivodeship has granted a permit for the construction of a ringroad in Augustow. Weather permitting, the US$207.52 million (PLN 659mn) project in the north-east Poland town may commence before the end of 2012 and is to be completed by September 2014. The new road will be 36.3km long and avoid the Nature 2000 protected area.

Parsons Brinckerhoff has won a contract from the Chicago Department of Transportation (DOT) in the US to provide final and preliminary design services for the rehabilitation of Chicago’s Webster Street Bridge. The firm will also be in charge of coordination and community outreach with adjacent property owners, and coordination with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the US Coast Guard. Parsons will offer engineeri

The US is seeing improvements in road safety overall, with a drop in road crash statistics for 2011. The data for 2011 is encouraging and the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new analysis indicating that highway deaths fell to 32,367 in 2011. This marked the lowest level of road related fatalities since 1949, 1.9% decrease from the previous year. Furthermore, this updated 2011 data show the historic downward trend in recent years continu

Italy’s Rome-based anti-mafia police are now investigating road and highway construction work carried out in a number of regions in the country. There is concern that sub-standard materials or construction methods may have been used and that this may cause safety threats. A number of property seizures have already been carried out along with several arrests. In recent years there have been collapses of structures in Italy that have later proven to be built using sub-standard methods and materials. Investiga

Serbian Minister of Construction and Urbanism, Velimir Ilic, claims the China Roads and Bridges Company (CRBC) has verbally agreed to invest €2.5 billion (US$ 4.8bn) to enable the construction of the Corridor 11 motorway. Ilic said that an official CRBC offer to fund and build the key motorway route will be submitted from the beginning of September 2012. The CRBC is already participating in construction of Serbia’s Zemun-Bora bridge. Ilic added that the World Bank (WB) had expressed interest in funding a

The number of Heavy Goods Vehicles travelling through Carlisle’s city centre is estimated to have been reduced by more than a third since the new multi-million euro Carlisle Northern Development Route opened in February 2012. Information from a network of 20 permanent and temporary traffic counters around the city showing ‘before and after’ CNDR road usage is said to be starting to build a more meaningful picture of the impact the new road has had on Carlisle. It shows a marked reduction in both cars and HG

Critics of Europe’s push towards biofuels are pointing out that the strategy is boosting the cost of foodstuffs around the world. The combination of drought and high grain prices are fuelling a growing clamour within Europe that is criticising the policy on boosting biofuel use. This comes on top of strong evidence that biofuel use does not reduce carbon dioxide emissions and may in fact be counter-productive. The claims are nothing new. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report strongly criticised the move

The Ethiopian Road Construction Corporation is to undertake one of Ethiopia's most expensive road constructions, a 30km road from Chancho to Becho, contracted for $32million. The road, part of the Fourth Road Sector Development Programme, will pass through Derba and provide proper access to Derba Cement, the largest cement factory in the country.

FLSmidth has opened an all-in-one service centre in Santiago, Chile, which is tailored to increase customer plant efficiency and safety among other critical offerings. Currently, FLSmidth employs approximately 60 people at its two Chilean service facilities and a total of 850 in Chile.