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Bulgaria is seeing an improvement in its latest road safety statistics. In 2017 there were 6,888 crashes on Bulgaria’s road network, a drop of 7% from the previous year. Meanwhile 6,800 people were injured in road crashes in Bulgaria in 2017 while there were 682 road related fatalities in the same period. The improved road safety presents a notable and positive change for Bulgaria. However the country still had the second highest rate of road fatalities/head of population of any country in the EU.

Work is well underway on a major road project in Argentina. Construction of National Road 19 is on schedule, with 30% of the necessary work having been carried out so far. The project is costing US$164.8 million and the highway will stretch 155km between San Francisco and Rio Primero.

Austrian contractor Strabag has won a stake in a design and build road contract in Poland. The project is worth a total of €133 million and involves building a section of highway carrying three lanes in either direction. The firm will work on the project to build another stretch of the A1 highway in Poland. The 17km long Section C begins at the Kamieńsk junction and ends at Radomsko, where the construction of a motorway interchange forms part of the order.

Crushing equipment specialist Metso is now celebrating its 150th anniversary. The firm started in business in 1868 as a local ironworks and the firm has evolved through a series of mergers, acquisitions and divestments. It now has operations in more than 50 countries and a workforce of over 12,000. Metso is a global industrial company providing the world's mining, aggregates, recycling, and process industries with innovative solutions for the sustainable processing and flow of natural resources. During its

Plans are in hand for the construction of the Sydney Gateway project, which will now see an improved connection to the city’s airport. The highway at St Peters will now be extended to Sydney Airport. The work will cost US$1.85 billion (A$2.6 billion) and will be funded jointly by the Australian Government and Sydney Airport. The work should be completed by 2023. The route will not be tolled.

A major new expressway project is being planned in the UK to connect the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge. The preferred route for the project has now been announced by the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). The construction work is likely to cost around €4.58 billion (£4.1 billion). Work to the route will include connecting existing stretches to new sections of dual carriageway. There has been criticism of the project however from the Wildlife Trust, which says that the preferred route will dama

Construction is ongoing for Colombia’s Toyo tunnel project in Antioquia. The tunnel is located between Giraldo and Canasgordas and some 120km from Medellin. The tunnel should open to traffic in 2024 if the project sticks to its planned schedule. The main tunnel section will measure some 9.85km-long although the project involves drilling side tunnels and emergency areas. The work is costing US$588.4 million.

Drivers in the US city of Atlanta will benefit from reduce congestion and faster journeys with the opening of new reversible toll lanes.

Financing has yet to be finalised for a series of road construction works in Paraguay. Loans are expected to pay for upgrade works to major road links. A loan of US$142.8 million is being sought from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and South American development fund Fonplata. Meanwhile a $90 million loan is being sought from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). And a further $200 million loan would also be sought from the IDB. Road projects to benefit from the funding would be for the

A new 167km highway will be built in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. This will provide an improved transport link between Shigatse (Xigaze) Peace Airport and Lhasa. The project is expected to cost US$3.95 billion. A feasibility study has been carried out into the project and submitted to the region’s transport department. The existing G318 National Road connects the airport with Lhasa but features a number of sharp turns and the new link will provide extra capacity as well as improved safety levels

A major new project is being planned for Australia’s Victoria State. The 26km North East Link is intended to connect Melbourne’s Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway at Bulleen. If the project is to go ahead it is likely to cost in the region of US$11.23 billion (A$15.8 billion), making it the single largest transport infrastructure project in the history of Victoria State. Should the work be approved, construction work would commence in 2020, with completion then due in 2027.

Volvo CE is continuing its development of sophisticated zero emission machines and is now unveiling a prototype wheeled loader with all-electric drive. The firm recently demonstrated its LX2 electric compact wheel loader at the Volvo Group Innovation Summit in Berlin. The prototype machine delivers zero emissions, significantly lower noise levels, improved efficiency and reduced operational costs. At the summit, Volvo CE also demonstrated its EX2 fully-electric compact excavator prototype and presented the

A loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) worth €180 million will help to pay for the construction of the Corridor Vc highway project. This highway is of key importance for the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as it will provide and improved transport connection with Europe. The loan will help to pay for the construction of three new sections of Corridor Vc, measuring some 16km. The loan will be provided in two tranches, with the first of up to €120 million and b

The Mexican Government is on track with its programme of infrastructure development for the time period from 2012 and 2018. Work completed includes the construction of 38 highways and 33,000km of rural roads. In addition, 77 federal roads have also been widened and rebuilt. The country’s Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) says that much of this work has been carried out under the PPP model, with financing of around US$3 billion. The new highways stretch for a total of 2,400km and includes urb