Road Structures

Plans are moving forward in Myanmar for the construction of a new highway link. A consortium made up of Halla Corp and Lotte E&C of South Korea and Capital Diamond Star Group (CDSG) of Myanmar is offering a proposal to build a 20.5km highway. This four-lane highway would connect Yangon and Bago and be constructed on a public-private-partnership basis. Drivers would have to pay a toll charge of US$1 each at three toll collection points. Phase I of the Yangon Urban Expressway project will cost US$620 million

Algeria has made significant progress with rebuilding its road system, boosting its network and adding extra capacity. Since 1999, 23,000 km of roads, including 1,200 km of highways, have been built in the country. The Ministry of Public Works said that work on a further 1,200 km of highways will be launched shortly. The 73km highway stretch between Khemis Miliana and Oued Fodda has now opened to traffic following upgrading works. The segment forms part of Algeria’s East-West highway.

Construction work is commencing on an important new bridge link in Colombia. The Puente de la Reconciliacion Bridge will connect the municipality of Mompox with the rest of the Bolivar department of Colombia. The project is being carried out by the consortium Consorcio Nacional Yati. The project will improve connections with Mompox, which is difficult to reach by road at present due to the lack of a direct route. The 2.3km long bridge will also provide a connection between the Troncal de Occidente and Ruta

Ukraine’s Regional Road Service estimates that US$1.08 billion is required to rebuild roads in the Donetsk Region. The work will be carried out from 2016-2025. Construction activity will focus on building 100km of new roads and repairing 2,500km of existing roads to meet current standards. The programme of work will provide up to 10,000 jobs in road-building and related industries.

Tunisia has major plans to upgrade its road network, with work due to commence in 2016. The Tunisian Government has said it intends to modernise 718km of roads across the country. The aim is to widen roads to 7.6m so that they meet international standards. The scheme will cover 21 governorates. Five national roads will be upgraded with a total distance of 105km, while 20 regional roads covering a distance of 320km will be updated. The project will also improve 20 local roads with a total distance of 294km.

Norway is considering proposals for another route across over the vast Hardangervidda, one of Europe’s largest plateaux and most of which is a national park. The Norwegian Road Administration (Statens Vegvesen) said one proposal would incorporate a 6km tunnel at a cost more than €216 million, according to a report the Nationen newspaper.

Plans are being worked on in Norway for a new tunnel development for part of capital Oslo’s ring Road. The Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property (Statsbygg) has proposed that part of ring road Ring 1 in Oslo should be placed underground where it runs close to the government quarter. The proposed changes are part of a risk assessment for the government quarter decreed by the Defence Estates Agency (Forsvarsbygg). Knut Jørgensen, project manager in Statsbygg, says that Statsbygg recommends