Road Structures

Senegal is setting an impressive target for its road construction projects. The country aims to have built 187km of new highways during 2018. The country’s current key highway development projects were started in 2012. Senegal’s whole programme of highway works has been worth US$2.12 billion in all. The country has also boosted its tertiary road network with 38 separate projects, adding a total of 1,061km of roads and seven bridges.

A new alignment is being considered for a major project in Russia’s second city, St Petersburg. A tunnel stretch running under the Neva River is being considered as an alternative route for the Eastern High Speed Diameter (EHSD) project. This tunnel would take the place of the fixed bridge, which has been criticised by some for its impact on the city’s skyline. However building the tunnel would increase the cost of the project by around US$52 million.

A new alignment is being considered for a major project in Russia’s second city, St Petersburg. A tunnel stretch running under the Neva River is being considered as an alternative route for the Eastern High Speed Diameter (EHSD) project. This tunnel would take the place of the fixed bridge, which has been criticised by some for its impact on the city’s skyline. However building the tunnel would increase the cost of the project by around US$52 million.

The Mersey Gateway bridge project off England’s west coast passed a milestone recently with the first joining of two of the deck sections. The key segments, as the sections are called, link the north approach viaduct to the north pylon deck span and are the first of four deck-joins scheduled for this summer. In total, there are five sections of bridge deck and approach roads that need to be joined.

Ethiopia is to benefit from a series of road upgrade and road construction projects with a total value of some US$2.51 billion. So far 58 separate road contracts have been awarded by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA). The contracts vary, with some being for the construction of new roads and others for upgrading work, including surfacing rural dirt roads with asphalt.

Chile’s landmark Chacao Bridge project could be ready for traffic by mid-2021, according to the Ministry of Public Works. The 2.76km suspension bridge will connect the Chilean mainland with Chiloe Island, replacing the current ferry service and helping to develop the local economy. The project is costing around US$700 million. The cranes that will be used to install the main sections of the bridge will arrive on site shortly. A new schedule for the project will be announced early in 2018.

A South Korean construction company looks set to carry out a key contract in Qatar. The job entails widening a section of highway measuring nearly 3km long from its present six lanes to eight lanes. The South Korean contractor, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, also looks set to carry out the auxiliary infrastructure portions of the road widening project, such as installing the necessary drainage and building new junctions. In all the project is costing close to US$434 million while the work should take

Construction work on Chile’s Americo Vespucio Oriente 1 (AVO 1) highway is starting somewhat later than was originally planned. Originally construction of the new highway was to have commenced in September 2016, but this was then held back first to July 2017 and finally to October 2017.