News

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) is calling for more bridge repairs in the US. There are still too many structurally deficient bridges in the US according to a recent analysis. This report states that while there were 2,574 fewer structurally deficient bridges in 2015 compared to the number in 2014, there are still 58,500 on the structurally deficient list. Worse still, at the current pace of bridge investment it will take at least 21 years before these bridges are all replace

The European Commission has approved a project worth almost 150 million for construction of an S19 dual carriageway stretching between Lublin and Rzeszow. The road is part of TEN-T, the Trans-European Transport Networks. Tent-T is a planned set of road, rail, air and water transport networks in the European Union. A decision to adopt TEN-T was made by the European Parliament and Council in 1996. TEN-T projects are mostly funded by national or state governments. Other funding sources include European C

The Russian government said it intends to spend nearly US$216 million building the Kirov western bypass. Construction of the 21.5km highway will start in 2017 at a bridge across the Vyatka River to the Kirov-Sovetsk-Yaransk interchange. Three interchanges and seven overpasses will also be built. The project will be carried out under the public-private partnership scheme.

The ring road project for Lima looks set to be hit by further delays. The construction seems likely to be delayed by a further 18 months due to the inability of Lima’s municipal authorities and the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) to settle key administrative agreements. Called the Anillo Vial Periferico, the new ring road is being built by the Cintra-JJC consortium.

The latest official figures from Malaysia show a worrying increase in the country’s road crash rate. The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) shows that the number of reported road crashes increased by 2.74% to 489,606 in 2015, compared with 476,196 for 2014. Meanwhile there were 6,706 road fatalities in 2015. According to MIROS, 19.4% of these road crashes were as a result of vehicle defects or poor road conditions, with 80.6% caused by human error.

Austria’s Infrastructure Ministry is setting out an ambitious programme of transport infrastructure development. Plans have been announced for €25 billion worth of infrastructure improvements over the next five years. This will include improvements to road and rail, as well as broadband services.

Tunisia’s road network looks set to expand now that new funding has been secured. The Tunisian Assembly of the Representatives of the People has agreed two loans from the African Development Bank (ADB) worth a total of nearly US$208 million. These loans are to be repaid over 20 years and will help fund road infrastructure developments for the 2016-2020 period. The work will focus on upgrading classified roads. This includes renovating 719km of roads, building 23 bridges and constructing a 7.3km-long bypass

Plans are moving forward for the new bridge structure connecting Thailand with neighbouring Laos. The Mekong Friendship Bridge will be 1.35km long and is expected to cost US$84.3 million to construct. The building work on the bridge will commence in 2019, with the necessary surveying work as well as the design now close to completion.

An Italian-Iranian road study agreement has now been signed. The Italian state-controlled road concession firm ANAS has a cooperation agreement with Iran's Construction and Development of Transport Infrastructures Company (CDTIC). ANAS International Enterprise (AIE) will carry out the study for the completion of the 1,500km north-south corridor, which runs between the port of Bandar-E-Imam on the Persian Gulf up to the northern border with Azerbaijan through the city of Tabriz. The aim of the study is to co

Uzbekistan will take out a US$405 million loan with the Asian Development Bank in the second half of this year for completion of a motorway from Central Asia to China. ADB will provide three loan in three tranches. Last autumn, Uzbekistan said it will target of 2,700km of new highways by 2019 at a cost of around $590 million. Around 2,280km will have a bituminous concrete surface and 418km will be a concrete surface. Uzbekistan has been setting out a major plan for road repairing, rebuilding and up

Delays look likely for Indonesia’s massive toll-road development programme. Funding shortages for the necessary land acquisitions will hold back commencement of highway construction activity. In all over US$18.1 billion has been set aside by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry for the necessary land purchases. But this sum is insufficient for the massive land areas required. The ambitious programme of works has called for the construction of 1,000km of tolled highways by 2019. Additional funding wi

Funding from the Middle East looks set to help develop new Indian highway projects. Some $15.6 billion from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), a UAE-based sovereign wealth fund, will be directed towards highway projects in India. This will be used for 50 highway projects in India on a toll-operate-transfer (TOT) basis. The Indian Government is planning to award 104 highway projects under the TOT model that will allow investments by private equity firms, infrastructure developers and institutional in

The Mersey Gateway Project achieved another milestone as the first deck span for the elevated north approach viaduct was completed. The reinforced concrete deck span was revealed when Merseylink's movable scaffolding system (MSS) 'Trinity' moved to its second casting position. It is the first of 11 spans that will be cast by the MSS for the deck of the elevated approach viaduct on the north side of the River Mersey.