News

Widening and upgrade work for the Autopista Norte motorway in Bogota is commencing in September 2017. The work will be carried out by the Accesos Norte de Bogota (Accenorte) consortium and forms part of Colombia’s 4G road development programme.

Engineering firm Michael Baker International has helped deliver highway improvements for a key link in Arkansas. The upgrade to Highway 70 involves widening and is designed to boost capacity along a 30km stretch of the route.

Paraguay is in the process of sourcing a portion of the necessary funding for its Transchaco road project.

In Guatemala the bidding process for a series of road projects has now been halted. There are concerns over irregularities or mistakes that have arisen during the tendering for the contracts. In all 128 tenders including road maintenance and repair jobs have been stopped. The ruling was made by Guatemala’s road conservation agency, Covial.

Colombia is pushing ahead with its 4G road development programme. Progress is being made with the construction of the Girardot-Honda-Puerto Salgar road connection, which is expected to cost US$518.6 million and is around 37% complete.

A survey of drivers in 13 countries found that UK drivers are least likely to say that they have used a phone while driving. Just over 10,000 drivers in Europe, North America and Asia were questioned in Aviva’s latest Consumer Attitudes Survey.

The Slovak government is exploring options for road financing after 2020, according to the media.

Poland’s road authority GDDKiA is going out to tender for construction of a 16km section of the S3 dual carriageway stretching between Bolkow and Kamienna Gora.

The Czech Transport Ministry has issued a planning permission for the first part of the planned D11 motorway construction for the 15.5km long section Hradec Kralove-Smirice which is expected to cost nearly €247 million.

Italian infrastructure company Impressa Pizzarotti has signed a deal for work on 24km of Poland’s S61 dual carriageway from Suwalki to the border with Lithuania.

A US$89.7 million finance package from the World Bank will pay for the construction of a new highway in Rwanda. The project calls for the construction of a 66.5km highway, which forms part of a larger plan to build a 117km route from Ngoma to Nyanza.

A series of road projects planned for Nicaragua’s capital Managua will help cut congestion at peak periods. Five separate projects are planned, with a total cost in excess of US$353 million, with the key link being the 16km bypass from Ticuantepe to Nejapa.

A new road safety target has been set for 2030. The European Union transport ministers have agreed to aim at halving the number of serious injuries on roads in the EU by 2030 from their 2020 level. Ministers have endorsed the Valletta declaration aimed at improving road safety. The ministers also called on the European Commission to come forward with a new road safety strategy for the decade 2020-2030.