News

Sunderland’s Northern Spire bridge with its 105m-high central A-frame pylon opens to traffic today after a four-month delay because of poor weather. The bridge opened for pedestrians and cyclists yesterday after three Sunderland-built Nissan vehicles first crossed the bridge during a ceremony to mark completion of the project. Work began in May 2015 and the bridge has been built within its allocated €129 million budget. However, poor weather conditions pushed back the opening of the bridge from this past

Sunderland’s Northern Spire bridge with its 105m-high central A-frame pylon opens to traffic today after a four-month delay because of poor weather. The bridge opened for pedestrians and cyclists yesterday after three Sunderland-built Nissan vehicles first crossed the bridge during a ceremony to mark completion of the project. Work began in May 2015 and the bridge has been built within its allocated €129 million budget. However, poor weather conditions pushed back the opening of the bridge from this past

Salini Impregilo has won a new contract worth about €250 million in Poland to design and build a section called Lot 3 of the S7 Expressway. Work on the four-lane 18.3km section between Widoma and Krakow will last 34 months, includes the construction of overpasses, bridges, animal crossings and a 2km viaduct. The S7 will cross Poland from Gdansk in the north to Krakow in the south. The client is the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA). Salini recently announced the sale of the plan

The transaction is subject to clearance by regulatory authorities. Closing and payment are expected in thefourth quarter of 2018. The sale is in line with Salini Impregilo’s plan to consolidate its growth strategy in large, complex infrastructure projects in the United States by exiting from non-core and non-strategic activities. With the sale, Lane Construction will continue to be one of the leading companies in the country in transport, tunnelling and water projects, with annual revenue expected at

Work on a busy interchange on the UK motorway network is close to completion. The new off-slip has opened at junction 24 of the M1 motorway. The work to upgrade junction 24 and junction 24a is being carried out by contractor Winvic Construction. The new off-slip at junction 24 provides a direct connection from the A50 eastbound to the M1 southbound. The work forms part of SEGRO’s Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) - SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway (EMG) - a ground-breaking

Construction work on the Moracica bridge project in Montenegro is now close to completion. Measuring 960m long, the bridge spans the Moraca River Canyon and is the most complex portion of the 41km first section to be built for the new highway connecting Bar with Boljare. Work on the bridge is expected to be complete by April 2019 and the structure is being built using some 30,000m3 of concrete and 5,200tonnes of reinforcing steel. The tallest of the bridge’s five piers will measure 158.5m in height, with

Financing now looks to have been fully secured for the Agua Negra tunnel project that will connect Chile and Argentina. The two countries have come to an agreement over how much they will contribute to the project, which is expected to cost around US$1.5 billion to construct. The financial contribution from each country will be in proportion to the length in each territory. With 28% of the 14km tunnel in Chile and 72% in Argentina, the latter will now provide the majority of the financing. The new tunnel

A legal challenge has now been launched against the tender award for the second tube for the Karawanks/Karavanke Tunnel project between Austria and Slovenia. The challenge has been launched by the two bidders that were unsuccessful for the project, Kolektor CPG and Euro-Asfalt. The 7.8km-long tunnel route runs under the Alpine Karawanks/Karavanke mountain range, connecting the Austrian Autobahn A11 from Villach with the A2 highway, running across the border to the Slovenian cities of Kranj and Ljubljana.

A further delay now faces construction work on New Zealand’s Southern Corridor improvement project. Completion of the work for the project now looks to be delayed for another year. Construction originally commenced in October 2015. The Southern Motorway project Is intended to improve transport from Papakura to Manukau in Auckland and has a pricetag of US$177.85 million (NZ$268 million).

Widening a Lithuanian stretch of the Via Baltica from Kaunas to Marijampole to four lanes should be completed this year, the government said. Transport Minister Rokas Masiulis also said that the highway – also known as the pan-European E 67 - from Marijampole to the Polish border would be reconstructed by 2022. He said safety issues – 42 fatalities in the past 10 years - prompted the widening at a cost of nearly €90 million.

Spending on inland transport infrastructure – road, rail, waterways - showed minimal change in 2016, staying at 0.7% of GDP, according to data from the OECD. However, the latest data – analysed by the International Transport Forum - also shows a reversal of investment per Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Australasia, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. The data is from a report by the Paris-based OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Growth in inland infrastructure investme

Ballooning land acquisition costs are pushing up the cost of the proposed 217km Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway, according to media reports.