Road Structures

Progress is being seen in New Zealand for the US$456.5 million (NZ$709 million) project to construct a highway connecting Puhoi with Warkworth. The new route will feature dual lanes in either direction and should be ready for traffic towards the end of 2021. Vehicle numbers are increasing in New Zealand and by 2026, the route is expected to carry 35,000 vehicles/day. The project includes extending the Northern Motorway and linking it to the SH1 routes, which involves removing 4 million m3 of spoil.

Funding from the World Bank will help with the development of Vietnam’s North-South Expressway project. The Vietnamese Government has sourced US$214 million for the project already from its own funds. The highway will stretch 654km across the country, speeding transport and helping develop trade and tourism. Because of the project’s scale, the work is being split into 11 separate stretches and should be complete by 2025.

Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave has set a budget of over US$180 million for road development during the 2019-2021 period. This will be used for maintaining and improving existing roads, as well as developing new links. Regional and municipal roads will benefit from the spending programme. Although Kaliningrad is itself Russian territory, it lies in between Poland and Lithuania and is separated from the rest of Russia.

A major tunnel project in Australia is facing a serious delay due to slow progress between the construction firms and construction unions. The US$4.73 billion (A$6.7 billion) project for the West Gate Tunnel will provide an imporoved link between the West Gate Freeway and the CityLink, reducing congestion and cutting journey times for drivers.

Mexico’s Puebla State is to benefit from strong spending on road development work during 2019. Two major road projects will be carried out at a combined cost of US$159.4 million. One of the projects is for the development of the Izucar de Matamoros-Acatlan de Osorio road.

A major programme of road repairs has been set in Honduras. The new road infrastructure plan is for the 2018-2022 period and aims to improve and upgrade 96% of the country’s existing network. At present a mere 4% of the country’s 16,412km road network is considered satisfactory.

Mozambique’s new suspension bridge connecting Maputo with Catembe is now open to traffic. The suspension bridge is the longest of its type in Africa, measuring almost 3km-long and surpassing the previous holder of this accolade, the Mapati Bridge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new bridge spans Maputo Bay and forms part of a new highway connection running from Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, all the way to the border with South Africa. The route will be of major benefit for Mozambique, helping to boo

A new bridge is planned between the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).