News

A new multi-million pound road which stops motorists having to travel through the centre of Carlisle in North West England has opened to the public two months ahead of schedule. The new Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR) starts from the Wigton Road (A595) to the south west of Carlisle, follows a route around the west of the city crossing the River Eden on a new bridge near Stainton and the West Coast Main Line on a new two-lane bridge constructed at Kingmoor.

Nepal's Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Nepal is conducting Kathmandu valley traffic improvement studies, with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Ministry is conducting three surveys. One is based on household interviews.

Three firms remain in the competition for the E6-Dovrebanen road and railway construction project in Norway. The project will run between Brøhaug and Strandlykkja in Eidsvoll and Stange in the east of the country. Veidekke and Hochtief Solutions have made a joint offer of US$276.1milion (NOK1.57billion); NCC and Alipne JV have tabled a bid of around $324.4million (NOK1.84billion); and AF Gruppen have offered $387.9million (NOK2.2billion). A fourth offer is reported to have been rejected by the national road

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Government says 60% of works have been completed on the Corridor V-c motorway between Drivusa and Kakanj. The €43.20million (US$56.28million) project, agreed in April 2010 between the Government's roads directorate and joint venture firm Viadukt d.d-Hering, will see the motorway created from three sub-roads between Drivusa-Gorica, Gorica-Biljesevo and Biljesevo-Kakanj.

A new construction and mining equipment exhibition is being planned for South Africa, which will be held in September 2013. The event is being set up by Messe München and will be called bauma Africa and is said to attracting interest in the sector. The South African Construction and Mining Equipment Suppliers' Association (CONMESA) has said that it welcomes the first bauma Africa, the International Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines and Construction Vehicles.

A new 30km highway is planned for Lanzhou in China’s Gansu Province. The East-West highway will cost some US$263 million to build and is being constructed on a build-transfer basis. West Zhongda Construction Group has the contract for the deal, which is reported to have a buy-back period of six years.

The tender for the Northern section of Brazil’s Rodoanel highway in Sao Paulo is now going ahead. This was previously delayed due to legal complexities. Talks will be held with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) over a new deadline for potential builders to submit documentation. The road section must be completed by November 2014.

Official statistics available for the UK collated by the police show that during the 12 years to 2011, there were over 3,000,000 road casualties in Great Britain. During this 12 year period over 36,000 people died while a further 373,985 were seriously injured.

In Taiwan Hua Chi Construction will build the planned Kinmen Bridge. This 5.4km structure will connect Lesser Kinmen with Greater Kinmen and is due for completion in 2016. Construction work will commence in May 2012. The contractor’s winning bid was for US222.2 million. The details of the project have been released by the National Expressway Engineering Bureau.

Strong interest is being shown in the coming Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress. Pavement durability and reduced temperature asphalt technologies are key topics of the Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress 2012, to be held this June in Istanbul from 13th-15th June 2012. This fifth Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress (E&E 2012) already has a strong line-up of speakers and delegates, with the programme being fine-tuned to meet expectations. Over 800 delegates are expected to attend the event, which will provide detaile

Indonesian firm Citra is to construct the South Metro Manila Skyway Stage 4 highway project and the Skyway Stage 3 project in the Philippines. In all Citra plans spending a total of US$1.5 billion on its works in the Philippines.

The authorities in India have given the go-ahead for a series of highway projects in the states of Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Rajasthan. These will be worth US$693.5 million and are being planned under the design, build, operate, finance and transfer (DBOFT) model. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) will see upgrades to the Madurai-Ramanathapuram route in Tamil Nadu, the Chandikhole-Dubari-Talcher road in Orissa to four-lane section and a 79km section of the Gomati Chauraha-Udaipur road in Rajasth