Road Structures

Brokk is boosting its range of demolition equipment with the purchase of fellow Scandinavian firm Aquajet. Brokk is a leading manufacturer of remote-controlled demolition machines and its recent acquisition of Aquajet Systems will widen its range of products available. Aquajet is a leading manufacturer of hydrodemolition robots.

Funding has been sourced to pay for widening work on Italy’s important A4 Autostrade. The section from Venice to Trieste will benefit from a finance package worth €600 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Italian bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The funding will be supplied to Autovie Venete, the Italian motorway concession firm. This will pay for the construction of third lanes for the highway in either direction, helping boost capacity. The route has been identified as being strate

Nepal’s Kathmandu-Tarai highway now looks likely to be built under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. This is a revision from the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model previously suggested. Nepal's Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has announced the change for the project, which had an estimated cost of US$1.04 billion when put forward in 2015. The detailed project report (DPR) for the highway is likely to be set out by consortium, from India. The Nepalese Governm

Deck waterproofing remains critical to a bridge’s structural integrity for its design life, explains Cliff Weston, director of Stirling Lloyd To properly maintain deck waterproofing there must be a willingness to look at solutions based on whole-life costing rather than just short-term initial costs. There are lessons to be learned from examples of prematurely failed infrastructure due to a focus on initial short-term costs.

Brazilian contractor Odebrecht is facing serious issues with regards to projects in Colombia and Peru. In Colombia the contract to build the Ruta del Sol II highway, at present 54% complete, is being terminated. Odebrecht is one of the partners in the The Consorcio Estructura Plural Promesa de Sociedad Futura Concesionaria Ruta del Sol consortium that was carrying out the contract. The consortium partners have also agreed not to claim for any compensation. In Peru meanwhile there is increasing pressure

Approval has been given for the construction of a new road tunnel in the German town of Starnberg. The €162 million road tunnel project is intended to cut congestion in the town centre but has been the subject of some controversy. The German Federal Government has agreed to a portion of the project’s costs, with the remainder coming from the Bavarian State as well as the local government. Starnberg, located some 30km south west of Bavaria’s capital Munich, is reputed to be the wealthiest town in Germany, so

Work to replace the Guanape Bridge in Venezuela is now commencing. The existing structure collapsed on the 24th January of this year, injuring eight people, but is too severely damaged to be rebuilt. The bridge was built in 2011 so its collapse has been the subject of some controversy. Building the new two lane structure will cost an estimated US$312 million and should be complete by the middle of 2017.

Revisions to a bypass project in Slovakia will help reduce the construction costs. The Prešov bypass is now being built with just two lanes, which will cut the construction costs by some€200 million. The project was initially expected to cost as much as €900 million and was criticised for its expense. Further plans for a tunnel at the northern end of the bypass are being discussed at present. Meanwhile revisions to the traffic system in Prešov are expected to bring further savings to the construction projec

Construction work is now commencing for a major new bridge project in China. The bridge is being built in Hainan Province and will measure close to 5.7km long when complete. It will link the mainland of Hainan Province with Ruyi Islet. The project is being designed primarily to handle road traffic as well as a tram link, while it will also carry utilities including water, gas, electricity and fibre optic cabling. Lead contractor for the project is China Railway 18th Bureau Group's 2nd Engineering Company. T

Work on a new tunnel and highway link will commence in the second quarter of 2018 in Bosnia. The project is being managed by the country’s road company, Autoceste FbiH. The €550 million Prenj tunnel project will provide a new link between the Konjic-Mostar North road and the Mostar North-Mostar South road.