Road Structures

A proposed toll road project for the Indonesian island of Java is now being evaluated. The feasibility study for the project is being carried out by the Priority Infrastructure Preparation Committee (KPPIP). The US$887.3 million project is for the Bawen to Yongjakarta toll road link, running roughly north to south across Central Java. The 71km route has been proposed by Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works and Housing Committee. The route will feature an elevated section.

Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, is developing its road network with a series of projects underway. In the last six months the city authorities have pushed ahead with works to 385km of roads. Around US$231 million has been budgeted for road development work, including building new links and maintaining existing roads. At present Addis Ababa’s road network extends for a total of 5,915km, compared with 5,365km in 2014. Meanwhile 2,616km of the city’s roads are surfaced with asphalt, around 44% of the total n

Politicians in Northern Ireland have again raised the prospect of bridge to link western Scotland the Irish island, according to media reports. The road and rail crossing as envisaged by the Democratic Union Party would cost close to €23 billion. It would run between the Irish town of Larne in County Antrim and the Dumfries and Galloway coastline in Scotland. The DUP said in its manifesto for the 2015 UK general election that there should be a feasibility study into building a bridge or tunnel.

The French firm Vinci has won the contract for extension works to the highway network in New Zealand capital Auckland. The deal is worth US$515 million and will be handled by Vinci’s New Zealand-based subsidiary HEB Construction. The work will take 36 months to complete and is for a new highway connector section joining the Upper Harbor Highway (State Highway 18) with the Northern Motorway (State Highway 1).

Three new expressway projects are planned for China's Hubei Province. Building the new links will cost US$2.17 billion. One of the projects is for a 47.6km link of the route running from Zaoyang to Qianjiang and featuring two lanes in either direction. Another project is for a 24.9km stretch of the route from Qichun to Taihu, again with two lanes in either direction. The third project is for a 61.9km stretch of the route from Qianli to Jiangling.

Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has said that the Kerch Bridge now looks likely to open to traffic in December 2018. In addition to the bridge, the highway connections should also be complete within the same timeline. The Kerch Strait bridge crossing is of key importance to the area and will help reduce journey times for drivers, as well as reducing transport costs considerably. Construction has not been without its challenges due in part to the fierce winter conditions. This is not the first