News

Bidding has been closed for the contract to construct the Toyo Tunnel in Colombia. Three offers for the project have been made. In all, eight firms are participating in the tendering, with six of the companies being from Colombia itself. The project is expected to cost some US$595 million. The new tunnel will improve connectivity between Medellin and Uraba and will run from Giraldo to Canasgordas. The tunnel will form part of the Uraba road which runs through the mountain range at 1,500m.

Bankrupt Australian highway management firm BrisConnections is selling its 6.7km AirportlinkM7 toll road in Brisbane three years after the highway opened, according to a report by the Financial Review. Macquarie Capital and Fort Street are acting as financial advisers and PBB Advisory is the receiver. Transurban, which paid A$7.05 billion for Brisbane's five other toll roads last year, is seen as the likeliest buyer, with indicative bidding starting early this month for closure of a deal early next year, ac

Interest is proving to be strong in the new Agua Negra Tunnel project which will link Argentina with Chile. A number of Chinese contractors are showing strong interest in the project.

Tests carried out by VTI, the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, involving motorcycles and crash barriers have shown that a plastic covering on the sharp edge at the top of the barrier can help save the lives of motorcyclists.

Bad driving makes people significantly attractiveness to potential partners, with women finding it especially so, according to a recent UK survey. Many people have wondered if poor driving skills put a dampener on romance and the survey from the Institute of Advanced Motorists appears to confirm this. Bad drivers were found to be 50% less attractive than motorists with good skills.

The Indonesian government is looking to spend around US$385 million of a major loan from China to construct three toll roads in the islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Java. The three toll roads are Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan (Cisumdawu) of West Java, Balikpapan-Samarinda of East Kalimantan and Manado-Bitung of North Sulawesi. China recently announced it would lend Indonesia around $1.5 billion for infrastructure projects.

Mexico’s secretary of communications and transport, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, has confirmed that the second level of Mexico City-to-Tlalpan interconnection road project could be completed by December. This stretch is part of the Mexico-Cuernavaca motorway improvement project, included in plans by the federal government and the capital's local authority to expand the access to Mexico City. The initiative is costing around US$1.68 billion and encompasses other motorways such as Mexico-Puebla, Mexico-Pachuca

The Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) has released a report summarising current US asphalt and concrete pavement smoothness requirements. The report, Best Practices for Achieving and Measuring Pavement Smoothness, A Synthesis of State-of-Practice, is important at a time when the US is undergoing a change in the way smoothness specifications are written. A growing number of states are moving away from profilograph-based smoothness specifications in favor of specifications based on a more widely

The authorities in Vietnam have set a massive budget for road development in Ho Chi Minh City. Some US$5.54 billion will be spent on improving the city’s road network. The projects included in the 2016-2020 road transport development plan include the construction of Belt Roads No3 and No4, the Ben Luc-Long Thanh Highway and tunnels at the Cong Hoa-Truong Chinh and An Suong intersections. The work also includes building flyovers at the Nguyen Huu Tho-Nguyen Van Linh Intersection, My Thuy Roundabout and Go Va

Ecuador is planning a series of four PPP infrastructure projects worth a total of US$1.5 billion. The four projects include the development of the port of Posorja, which will be financed by the private company involved. Two other projects are for the development of the port of Machala and the Rio 7 highway in Huaquillas, both of which are located in El Oro province. New regulations and laws are being established for the PPP plan to go ahead.

A key road project in Panama has been the source of some controversy. The upgrade of Domingo Diaz Avenue in Panama City has been criticised for its poor quality by some of the users of the route. Also known as Tocumen road, the project is for improvement work to 12.1km of road from the centre of Panama City to the East districts. The US$237 million work required involved widening the route to six lanes, as well as building three bridges for vehicle traffic and five pedestrian bridges. A consortium made up o