Road Structures

New elevated expressways will improve transport in Bangladesh. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing US$1.2 billion in financing for the new Dhaka-Northwest international project. This will be managed by the country’s Roads and Highways Department under the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry's Road Transport and Highways Division.

A new twin tube tunnel in Mexico City will help reduce the city’s chronic congestion problem, which is particularly acute at peak travel periods. The tunnel is located at Mixcoac in the south west of the city and should be ready by August 2017. The new twin bore tunnel link will reduce traffic jams on the city’s Circuito Interior urban highway, which handles up to 300,000 vehicles/hour at peak travel periods. Mexico City’s traffic jams are notorious and journey times can be infuriatingly long at times.

Argentina is planning a series of road projects stretching for a total of 5,500km and worth US$4.12 billion in all over four years. These will be PPP projects and include eight key road corridors, with 1,300km of the routes being multi-lane highways. The routes include Ruta 3 to Bahia Blanca, Ruta 5 to Santa Rosa, Ruta 7 to Mendoza, Ruta 8 to Villa Mercedes, Ruta 9 to Cordoba, Ruta 19 in Santa Fe and Cordoba, Ruta 34 from Rufino-Rosario and Ruta 226 from Rosario-Ceres. Of note is that under Argentina’s PPP

A 21-year concession deal has been agreed for the widening project for a 114km stretch of road linking Gujarat and Rajasthan states in India. The route will be widened to six lanes, with three in either direction. The project financing is worth over US$226 million, with a group of lenders having agreed the terms for the project with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The agreement has been achieved by Udaipur Tollways, disclosed IRB Infrastructure Developers, which owns the special purpose veh

Spanish contractor Sacyr Concesiones will carry out construction of Colombia’s new Cucuta-Pamplona road connection in a deal worth US$485.5 million. This particular road project is of key national importance as it will improve Colombia’s connections with neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador. The project forms of Colombia’s key 4G road development programme and the package of works was awarded by the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI).

Bolivia’s La Paz region is set to benefit from a major programme of highway development work. The country’s road management firm Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras (ABC) is to spend over US$2.58 billion on road construction work from 2017-2020. The plans call for work to nearly 800km of roads, with the aim of improving transport links between La Paz and the rest of the country. One road will offer and upgraded connection from Charazani-Apolo-Tumupasa-Ixiamas-Chive. One will run from Undiavi-Chulumani-Sa

The French city of Bordeaux has awarded Razel-Bec a contract for construction of a new bridge across the Garonne River. The city of Bordeaux awarded Razel-Bec one of the largest urban development project in France, construction of the Simone Veil Bridge. The 550m bridge over the River Garonne will be 45m wide and lie between Bordeaux and the city of Floriac. Construction will start in September and take around 32 months. Cost will be nearly €83.9 million.

Construction of Montenegro’s Bar-Bolijare highway project is being accelerated. This will ensure that the work remains on schedule and will be able to meet the planned completion date.