News

The US is in desperate need of rebuilding many of its road bridges. This comes from an analysis of official data carried out by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). According to ARTBA’s analysis of the US Department of Transportation’s just released 2017 National Bridge Inventory database, 54,259 of the nation’s 612,677 bridges are rated structurally deficient. The work is needed as these transport links are vital, with Americans crossing these deficient bridges 174 million

Myanmar’s Ministry of Construction in Myanmar has set a budget for road and bridge improvement works for the April 2018-September 2018 period. US$181.5 million will be spent improving transport infrastructure in this period. Five road upgrade projects and 41 bridge improvement works are being planned. So far improvements are being carried out to three road links and 17 bridges.

Construction has been completed for the upgrade of the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed highway, which links the UAE with neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The project cost US$817 million and the work was carried out by the contractor, Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada). The route runs 246km from the Mafraq region in Abu Dhabi to the border with Saudi Arabia. The road has been resurfaced and widened and now features three or four lanes, compared with the two lanes of the original route. The project included

A series of road upgrades is planned for Mindanao in the Philippines. A loan worth US$380 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help pay for the works. In all, the programme of road upgrades will cost $498 million however. Eight roads in Zamboanga Peninsula totalling 277km will be upgraded along with three bridges in Tawi-Tawi Province that will be improved.

The Czech Republic is setting out its programme to develop its road infrastructure network. The plans call for work to build 360km of roads and highways as well as maintaining existing stretches. The construction plans include work on the Prerov section of the D1 highway, a stretch of the D40 from Hulin to Frystak, the Hodejovice section of the D3 highway and the Frydek-Mistek by-pass. They also include work to two sections each of the D35 highway and D11 highway as well as a number of bypasses for the D6

China has plans to build a smart highway in Zhejiang Province. The route will include warning technology and monitoring systems and will be complete in 2022. By utilising this technology the builders aim to boost the speed of traffic by 20-30%, without compromising safety. The 161km stretch of highway will feature three lanes in either direction and will also feature mobile charging systems for EVs. Once the route opens to traffic it is expected to halve journey times from Ningbo to Hangzhou from the

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) reports a strong performance for the fourth quarter of 2017. This helped its parent company, the Volvo Group, achieve the highest sales and operating income in its history. Improved competitiveness coupled with growing demand, especially in Asia, boosted Volvo CE’s performance in sales, operating income, and order intake.

Consultancy firm Michael Baker International has a US$4 million contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to provide safer road links and bridges along the southern gateway corridor into Dallas. This project is due for completion in 2021. It will provide a long-term transportation and operational improvement effort to boost safety, cut congestion and while address roadway deficiencies and system linkage for the critical I-35E and US 67 artery.

Gerd Leonhard: a key speaker at Transport Research Arena 2018 – TRA 2018 - in Vienna in April. International futurist Gerd Leonhard has been confirmed as a key speaker at this year’s Transport Research Arena 2018 in Vienna in April. To underline the visionary nature of TRA 2018, Leonhard - author and head of The Futures Agency - will speak at the opening session, exploring the importance of new technologies and the role of humans in the world of today’s digital mobility. From April 16-19, the 7th Transp

The International Road Federation's Global Road Achievement Awards (GRAA) will be presented at the IRF Global Road Conference & Road2Tunnel Global Expo. This will be held on November 2nd-4th, 2018 at Las Vegas in the USA. According to the IRF, the awards are intended to recognise innovative road projects and exemplary people that place the road industry at the forefront of worldwide social and economic development.

Work on the La Linea Tunnel project in Colombia has cost considerably more than first anticipated. The National Road Institute (Invias) says that the bill so far tops US$774 million. Extra costs of around $281.5 million have been incurred due to the need to drive a pilot tunnel as well as for three additional tunnel stretches as well as bridges along the approaches to the main tunnel. The project is now expected to be complete by the end of 2018, somewhat later than originally expected.