News

Chile’s ambitious road development programme is continuing. Work is starting on the Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO 1) highway project. This is expected to cost US$926 million and will provide an improved connection from the El Salto area to Principe de Gales. The work should be completed in the second half of 2021. However a number of complaints have been made with regard to the project, which could delay the timeframe once more. The project was originally due to open for traffic in 2020. Meanwhile Chile’s

A loan worth US$250 million will be help pay for road development work in parts of India. The loan is being provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a deal agreed with the Indian Government. This funding will be used for road projects in five of India’s states. The work will focus on boosting connectivity and safety, particularly for rural areas. In all some 12,000km of roads will be improved with the programme. Another $250 million loan will also be provided by the ADB with this package intended to

A series of road contracts are due for a road project in Indonesia. The road runs through North and East Kalimantan. Six of the contracts have been agreed already and a total value of US$180.35 million. The Indonesian Army will be involved in some of the work as the improved road link will boost border access for the country.

The recent collapse of the Chirajara bridge continues to be a centre for controversy in Colombia. The enforced closure of the Bogota-Villavicencio road link following the collapse has caused transport problems and the Colombian Government has now ordered that the route be reopened before it causes further economic problems. Temporary measures are being carried out to allow vehicles, and trucks in particular, to be able to bypass the affected stretch safely. The road company Coviandes has commissioned an

Spanish contractor Grupo Rubau has won a €120 million deal for construction of a 19.4km section of the S-61 motorway in Poland. Work on the stretch connecting Ostrow Mazowiecka and Szczuczyn will be finished in 31 months.

Construction work for the Vinogradovo-Boltino-Tarasovka toll road in the Moscow region is now underway. The work is being carried out by Vis Group, a subsidiary of Gazprom. The 16km link will join the A104 and M8 highways, with the work costing US$488 million. This will be the first PPP project carried out in the Moscow region.

Driving work has commenced for Colombia’s Toro Tunnel project. The tunnel will measure 9.8km long and is located in Colombia’s Antioquia Department, with the completion expected in 2022. The project is costing US$650.5 million and the link is intended to provide a link between the Autopista al Mar 1 and Autopista al Mar 2 highways. When complete the tunnel will also cut the travel time between Medellin and Uraba to four hours.

The French earthmoving equipment market remains the third biggest market in Europe with sales of 21,630 machines last year. According to Cisma, the French equipment manufacturers’ association, 2017 stands out as the best year since the market crash in 2008. Growth in equipment sales for 2017 so far have been driven by crawler excavators, which were 22% higher than in 2016. This includes mini excavator sales, which are the most popular product, and reflect a strong house building market this year The mini

An increasing number of accidents has forced Amsterdam city to launch a safety campaign aimed at stopping mostly young cyclists from texting while riding. With a view to incoming legislation, the city of Amsterdam in cooperation with GVB (Amsterdam City Transportation) and Vervoerregio Amsterdam (Amsterdam Regional Transport) started the Superbelangrijk campaign. Literally translated as Super-important, the campaign is to educate cyclists, as well as pedestrians, of the dangers of taking your eyes off the

The US is in desperate need of rebuilding many of its road bridges. This comes from an analysis of official data carried out by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). According to ARTBA’s analysis of the US Department of Transportation’s just released 2017 National Bridge Inventory database, 54,259 of the nation’s 612,677 bridges are rated structurally deficient. The work is needed as these transport links are vital, with Americans crossing these deficient bridges 174 million

Nicaragua’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) is setting out its road development programme for 2018. In all the plans call for the construction of 171km of roads. Work will be completed for the road from Mulukuku to Siuna, with the first 23km stretch due to open in September 2018 and the remaining 21.5km expected in December 2018. Meanwhile the road from Nueva Guinea to San Francisco should be complete by November 2018. Work started on these two routes in 2016. The project also calls for

Myanmar’s Ministry of Construction in Myanmar has set a budget for road and bridge improvement works for the April 2018-September 2018 period. US$181.5 million will be spent improving transport infrastructure in this period. Five road upgrade projects and 41 bridge improvement works are being planned. So far improvements are being carried out to three road links and 17 bridges.

Construction has been completed for the upgrade of the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed highway, which links the UAE with neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The project cost US$817 million and the work was carried out by the contractor, Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada). The route runs 246km from the Mafraq region in Abu Dhabi to the border with Saudi Arabia. The road has been resurfaced and widened and now features three or four lanes, compared with the two lanes of the original route. The project included