Road Structures

Chile’s capital Santiago now looks set to benefit from a new road tunnel link, which will cost up to US$900 million to construct. The Americo Vespucio Oriente I (AVO I) will stretch 9km through the city and will include a tunnel section. The project has been the focal point for discussions between the local authorities as well as the companies OHL and Sacyr.

The city authorities in Russia’s capital Moscow are planning the construction of a new stretch of highway. The North-East Expressway will provide a connection between the existing Dmitrovskoe and Yaroslavskoe Highways. The new route will measure 13km long and design work should be complete by the end of 2018, with construction intended to be finished by 2020. Once the new link is complete it should help reduce the city’s notorious peak time traffic congestion.

The firm developed this new surface course in a bid to match increasing traffic volumes on the UK’s road network. According to Aggregate Industries, this material can speed up road surfacing by more than 40%. There is a major need to repave many UK roads, with the country’s vehicle population having increased by 10 million in the last 10 years. This has triggered an increased need for infrastructure maintenance. But the time needed to carry out road repairs can cause major problems for motorists.

A series of major road infrastructure upgrades are planned for Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. In all 24 separate projects are included in the programme of works being set out by the local authorities. The work will be worth close to US$193 million in all. One of the key upgrades will be the construction of a new flyover section that will run over the top of Suyapa Boulevard. The connections to the city’s Anillo Periferico ring road will also see a number of upgrades. The work is expected to cut conge

Argentina’s Route 33 is set to benefit from a major upgrade with the award of a contract to a consortium comprising local construction companies. The firms, Jose Cartellone Construcciones Civiles and Supercemento Saic, won the tender for the work with a bid worth US$198.5 million. The consortium will carry out construction work on a 70km section of Route 33 between Rosario and Rufino. Work is now commencing and should take around 24 months to complete. In all this stretch of the road measures 230km and addi

Plans are being drawn up in China for a new mega tunnel project in Guangdong Province. Details of the project, to connect Shenzhen and Zhongshan, have been released by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. The 6.8km undersea stretch of tunnel will carry eight lanes, making it the world’s widest undersea road tunnel.

Further progress is being made with the landmark Agua Negra Tunnel project that will connect Argentina and Chile. The new tunnel will run through the Andes mountain range, providing an improved highway link between the two nations, boosting trade and transport. The consortia pre-qualified for the tender process will be announced during November 2017.

The tender process is now complete for the Shantou Bay Crossing in China. This link will be 10km long and will connect the East Coast Expressway with the Haojiang Guangda Expressway. The project is expected to cost US$1.27 billion to construct. The new link will improve transport connections close to Shantou City in China’s Guangdong Province, reducing journey times for drivers using the existing routes.