News

Miami-based firm IBT has completed its construction work on a highway link in Bolivia’s Chaco Region. The project cost US$84 million to carry out and is of importance to Bolivia, as it will improve transport connections and improve trade and tourism in the area. The improved route will also make a major boost to safety as the original road had the reputation of being one of the 10 most dangerous mountain roads anywhere in the world. The 61km highway project included moving 5.4 million m3 of earth before the

SwedenSwedish contractor Svevia has been commissioned by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) to handle cable replacements on the Tjörnbron Bridge. Replacement is expected to start in 2019 for completion by 2025. Svevia project manager Johan Söderberg said the work will be complicated, not least because traffic must continue to us the bridge. He reportedly said that much of the work will have to take place at night, in the summer and in good weather. The 664m-long cable stayed Tjörn Bridge,

France has increased its annual national-road modernisation fund by 25% to €1 billion for starting next year. French Transport Minister Élisabeth Borne made the announcement, pointing out that the country’s roads in the worst condition will get priority. Also, starting in 2022, roads will be reviewed every five years under a new scoring system to determine which are in most need of repairs and modernisation. Borne noted that she wanted to speed up improvement works on routes serving mid-sized cities.

A bridge on the San River near Jarosław will be the first of 22 to be constructed under the Polish government’s Bridges for Regions programme. Central government will fund around 80% or the programme that is expected to cost about €534 million, said Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister. The rest will be contributed by local governments, with some of the money coming from a local roads fund to be set up in the autumn. The fund will also provide financing for the modernisation of existing bridge crossings,

The Czech division of Eurovia has won a €126 million contract for a section of the D35 motorway. The Czech road and motorway management company RSD sealed the deal Eurovia, part of the Vinci Group, for construction of 14.7km between Casy and Ostrov, in the Pardubice region. Eurovia submitted a bid of nearly €126 million for the work that the government and the European Union had estimated in 2016 might cost around €194 million. Other bids had been submitted by M-Silnice and Astaldi. Eurovia recently an

Plans for the expansion of Indonesia’s toll road network are looking behind schedule at this point. The country’s road expansion programme has a target of 1,852km of new toll roads to be complete by 2019 when the current administration ends its term in office. However only 870km of the planned toll roads have so far been completed. The new toll roads are expected to help develop the country’s economy and also to cut transport costs. Plans are also in hand to develop 2,650km of roads that will not be tolled

Nigeria’s high road casualty rate is providing cause for concern, with 1,292 road deaths in the first three months of 2018. There were 2,598 road deaths in the period from October 2017 to March 2018 according to data from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile the data shows that there were 2,482 crashes in the period from January 2018 to March 2018 compared with 2,489 road crashes in the period from October 2017 to December 2017. According to Road Transport Data, there were 15,815 people

Recent heavy rains in Kenya have caused extensive damage to the road network, washing away road surfaces and signage and causing scouring of bridges. As much as US$180 million may be required to carry out the necessary repairs to the road network. Nairobi and its surrounding area have been particularly badly hit. The city’s central business district and various industrial areas are key to the country’s economy and have suffered extensive damage to various road sections, so repairing these areas is seen as a

Approval has been given by the respective authorities in Thauland and Laos for a new bridge connecting the two countries. Called the fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge, this new link is expected to boost trade, transport and tourism between the two nations. The bridge will connect Thailand’s Bung Kan Province with Borikhamxay Province in Laos. Meanwhile proposals are also being made for the sixth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge to connect Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand with Saravan province in Laos.

Contracts to construct new stretches of road and tunnels forming part of the North-South Corridor (NSC) project have been awarded by Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA). When complete in 2026, the NSC will improve connections between Singapore’s city centre and its northern areas. The link will be Singapore’s first integrated transport link, combining the new road connection for motor vehicles with dedicated bus lanes and cycling facilities. A contract worth close to US$603 million will be carried

Financing from China is helping pay for a series of major infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

The financing includes loans and funds and is being provided jointly by Colombia's national development bank Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN), Spain's Official Credit Institute (Instituto de Credito Oficial) and debt funds Ashmore-Caf and Blackrock.

Moscow will benefit from an additional 100km of roads being added to the city’s network during 2018. This road expansion should help address the chronic congestion problems in Russia’s capital city. The work will include the opening of much of the city’s new North-Western and North-Eastern Chords. This is expected to increase traffic capacity by as much as 30% in the city’s urban areas. Other important links scheduled to open include an overpass for the Rublevskoe highway and a stretch of the Kiyevskoye to