News

Japan’s National Police Agency reports an improvement in road safety for the first half of 2014. The report highlights a drop in road related fatalities to 1,925 for the first six months of 2014, a fall of 79 compared with the same period for the previous year. Of those killed in road crashes during the first six months of 2014, a worrying 995 were aged 65 or older. Meanwhile, the number of people injured in road accidents reached 342,656. There were 277,591 road crashes in Japan during the first six months

The project to construct a connecting road between the South Luzon and North Luzon expressways in the Philippines now looks set to be delayed. The US$409 million contract previously awarded to a joint venture comprising Philippine National Construction Corp (PNCC) and Metro Pacific Investments Corp (MPIC), has been withdrawn for unspecified reasons. The country’s Department of Public Works and Highways says that the contract has been returned to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) for new

Construction work on the Lajkovac-Ljig and Obrenovac-Ub sections of Serbia’s Corridor 10 highway are said to be on-track. The stretch will be completed by April 2017 and when the section opens to traffic, it will help reduce journey times with the drive from Belgrade to Zlatibor taking just 90 minutes. He said that delays on the road are not expected. The project value has not been disclosed.

In Portugul official road safety statistics show a continuing improvement. The country’s Road Safety Authority (ANSR) has reported that between January and July 2014, fatalities from car crashes dropped 17% to 254 compared with the same period in 2013. There were recorded 65,291 car crashes in Portugal within January and July 2014, which resulted serious injuries to 1,117 and minor injuries in 19,150.

Plans are moving forward for two key highway projects in Poland. The Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) says that the best offer for the construction of the Rzeszow - Jaroslaw section of the A4 highway has been submitted by a consortium comprising contractors Budimex and Strabag. The deal is worth some €170.63 million. Meanwhile Italian construction company Astaldi has signed a contract worth €103.23 million with GDDKiA for the S8 dual carriageway. The section of road will

Thailand is setting out plans for a major development of its transport network. The country’s government has been discussing plans for five special economic zones, as well as the new transport links that will connect these areas. The five special economic zones have been proposed in Trat, Tak, Songkhla, Mukdahan and Aranyaprathet. For Songkhla's Padang Besar and Sadao customs checkpoints, a 64km highway project costing some US$743.85 million is being considered that will run from the Malaysian border in Sad

In Sri Lanka work is planned for a major highway upgrade project. The work will see a 151.3km stretch of the A5 highway being widened and improved in a deal worth some US$140 million. The work is being planned by Sri Lanka’s Government and is for the stretch of A5 between Badulla and Chenkaladi. Improvement work on the Peradeniya-Badulla section of the A5 highway has now been completed and this latest project is the next phase of the A5 upgrade. The project is being partly financed by the OPEC Fund for Inte

Work on a key bridge link in Vietnam is behind schedule and the construction team will have to speed up work. Delays have hit the project to build the Vam Cong Bridge, which will span the Hau River. The firms building the bridge, South Korean contractor, GS E&C and Hanshin E&C has been told by Vietnam's Transportation Ministry to accelerate construction efforts. The bridge is due for completion by September 2017. GS E&C and Hanshin E&C secured the bridge project in June 2013 and the work is worth some US$23

Norway’s new Hardanger Bridge is not carrying enough traffic according to the latest data available. According to the statistics for July 2014, some 3,500 vehicles/day crossed over the Hardanger Bridge (Hardangerbrua) in Norway. This was a notable increase from the 2,450 vehicles/day using the link in June 2014. This is higher than the normal volumes due to high levels of summer vacation traffic. However, it is not sufficiently high to hit the planned average of 1,950 vehicles/day for the whole year. The r

Standard & Poor (S&P) has given Orange County Transportation Agency’s (OCTA) SR91 link one of the highest ratings for managed highway lanes in the world. S&P’s upgraded the SR91 Express Lanes Toll Revenue Bonds to AA-. The bonds were issued last year to refund bonds that were issued in 2003 when OCTA acquired the SR91 Express Lanes project from the private consortium that developed the project under California’s prior P3 law. The 91 Express Lanes is a four-lane, 16km toll road built in the median of Califor

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Balfour Beatty’s UK construction business has been awarded the €94.45 million (£75 million) A63 Castle Street improvement scheme in Hull for the Highways Agency under an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) design and build contract. The 1.5km scheme in the centre of the city in East Yorkshire, northern England will improve journey times for road users through conversion of a major interchange into a split level junction with a two-lane dual carriageway carrying east-west traffic below north-south traffic in