Road Structures

Vietnam is planning a series of major works to upgrade transport in the Central Highlands area. The Vietnamese Government has released plans to spend some US$4.95 billion improving transport infrastructure in the Central Highlands. A significant portion will be used for 12 projects to build and upgrade several sections of national highways. Government funding will pay for a portion of this work, with private sources providing the remaining financing, although further details have not yet been released.

Much of the excavation work for the North Connex highway tunnel project in Sydney, Australia will be carried out by roadheaders from Sandvik. In all, six MT720s, one MT620 and six MT520 machines will work on the project, in addition to six road headers from other suppliers. The work is being carried out by the Lend Lease–Bouygues Joint Venture (LLB JV) and is constructing a strategically important highway. The project is being sponsored by the NSW Government, Transurban and the M7 Westlink Shareholders.

Two major road projects are planned for Poland. Spanish construction firm Dragados intends to start work building a 25km ring road around the Polish city of Radom in the second half of 2016. The road will cost over €171.67 million to construct and will be completed in 2018. The work includes building four bridges, four junctions and two pedestrian bridges. The new ring road will form a part of the S7 road and reduce journey time between Krakow, Kielce and Warsaw.

Plans are in hand in South East Asia for an improved road link connecting Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. A loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) worth US$100 million will help fund the work for the 66.4km section running between Kawkareik and Eindu in Myanmar. The highway will run for some 1,450km in all. The road will be called the East-West Economic Corridor and is of key importance to open up trade and transport between these nations. Talks for this project are underway at present.

A key road link is opening in in Costa Rica. The country's Ministry of Public Works and Transports (MOPT) says that a stretch of the widened Canas-Liberia road will open in December 2015. The project is now running ahead of schedule according to the MOPT and the new road link will help cut journey times and boost tourism in Guanacaste province during the summer season. MOPT guaranteed that the road would be 100% completed in January 2016. Of the 36 bridges included in the project, 35 are complete. Only the

Lighting columns and other roadside structures such as overhead gantries play an essential role in road safety, by improving night time visibility or giving information to drivers. However old generation units themselves pose a potential hazard as they can be impacted by vehicles departing the roadway and potentially with fatal results in the event of a high speed crash. This is why newer passively safe columns have been developed, which are designed to collapse in a controlled fashion when impacted, reduci