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Plans are in hand for the bauma CTT RUSSIA 2019 construction machinery exhibition, which will be held in Moscow from June 4th-7th 2019. Registration is now underway for the event, claimed to be Russia’s most important construction equipment and technologies trade fair. The event will be held at Moscow’s Crocus Expo IEC and this show will be of special note as it will be the 20th anniversary of the exhibition. The organisers point to Russia’s positive economic market due to planned infrastructure expansion a

Plans are being drawn up in Russia for the M-49 route in St Petersburg, a project which is expected to cost US$225.2 million. The new road will be built in St Petersburg’s Primorsky District, on the northern side of the city. The work is expected to help reduce peak time congestion in the city. The plans call for the road to be operated under an 11 year concession package. Much of the financing is being provided by the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), with the remainder being supplied by the First Eurasian

A 198km stretch of highway in northwestern Vietnam is to be upgraded. The route forms part of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Kunming-Hi Phòng Transport Corridor. A loan worth US$188 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help pay for the work. The highway runs through a mountainous region and is important to Vietnam as it provides a connection between Hà Ni and China's Yunnan province. The work will improve the existing road connections and boost connectivity for Vietnam’s northern provinces

Russia plans to spend a record amount on developing its road and transport network for the 2019-2021 period. The country’s Ministry of Economic Development is setting a state financing budget of over US$84 billion. This is the largest sum that Russia has directed towards road spending over the last 10 years. One of the key projects will be the upgrading of the Kerch-Sevastopol highway, which is expected to cost $1.6 billion. New transport hubs for Murmansk and Novorossiysk as well as airports will also be

Work to upgrade a section of Paraguay’s Route 8 between Caazapa and Yuty is finally close to completion. The work to improve the 73km section of the highway is some two years behind schedule. The bridge spanning the Pirapo River that forms part of the project is already open to traffic however. The South Korean contractor Ilsung Construction is currently carrying out the paving work for the project. The firm is also building an additional 12.7km of new access roads to provide connections to Maciel, Yegros,

An upgrade to Norway’s E39 and E6 routes is being planned, in a bid to boost traffic flow and also to optimise safety. The projects are being managed by Norway’s state-owned road contractor Nye Veier. The E39 will be widened and improved between Flekkefjord and Ålgård. Meanwhile E6 will be widened and improved between Ulsberg and Melhus. In addition the E6 will also be upgraded from Moelv to Øyer as well as from Kvål to Melhus.

A new road tunnel link is to be built in the Faeroe Islands. The Sandoy Tunnel will be driven by the Swedish contractor NCC. The firm has been working on another tunnel project in the Faeroe Islands. This new tunnel is expected to cost €114.8 million to drive.

A new toll bridge is being planned in Chile to span the River Biobío. Construction of the new bridge has been recommended by Chile’s Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA), following its completion of a study into the project. The project will cost close to US$177.5 million and provide a new connection between Hualpén and San Pedro de la Paz. The new bridge will be the fourth spanning the River Biobío and is needed due to heavy congestion on the main Route 160 crossing. Building the new bridge will cut jour

Russia’s road company, Avtodor, reports that the project to build the fourth section of Moscow’s Central Ring Road (CRR) should be completed in February 2019. The Italian firm Anas has retained its interest in the project, which is costing a total of around US$1.28 billion.

Construction for a new Norwegian road link is now being restarted, with approval having been given for the project. Work on the Nordøyvegen road project commenced in 2017 but was halted over concerns at its cost. The work came with an initial pricetag of close to €588 million. However revisions to the plans have resulted in a lower pricetag of €535.3 million, which has now been accepted by the local authority in Møre og Romsdal.

Construction work on a new toll road connection is due to commence in Indonesia in mid-2019. The 120km road connecting Solo, Yogyakarta and Kulonprogo will be built by the Adhi Karya (ADHI) consortium. The project is costing an estimated US$1.25 billion and should take 36 months to complete. One of the most complex sections of the project will be for the 20km stretch of elevated highway. The new toll road will also provide a connection to the new Yogyakarta International Airport.

The Vietnamese Government is prioritising construction of the country’s North-South expressway project. Contractors are already being selected for the 11 sub-projects for the expressway, which is expected to come with a final pricetag of US$5.09 billion. The 2,100km route is being built in three separate phases and links 32 of Vietnams cities and provinces. The first 650km section will be complete by 2020. The other sections should be ready for traffic by 2025.

The highway of the future will not be a physical asset created and maintained by the construction industry … it will increasingly be seen as part of an emerging global services sector. “Every day we hear about Mobility as a Service (MaaS), but what about Roads as a Service?” says Christophe Nicodème, general director of the European Union Road Federation (ERF). “The role of the road is changing. We need to think much more carefully about planning (highway) infrastructure in terms of people’s needs. We must