Road Structures

The Indonesian Government has handed out contracts for the new Sunda Strait Bridge. Construction of the US$11 billion project is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2014.

Engineering specialist AECOM will carry out a study into the proposed Lower Thames Crossing project in the UK.

Improved pedestrian safety and smoother traffic flow will result from work being carried out by Nepal’s Department of Roads. The plan will see the construction of 15 pedestrian bridges along the Tinkune-Suryabinayak section of the Araniko Highway.

Concern has been expressed in Austria over the potential costs of upgrading the country’s road network to cope with 60tonne trucks measuring up to 25.5m long. The introduction of these massive ‘gigaliners’ has been proposed across the EC. But Austrian highway operator Asfinag has said that upgrading the country’s roads, highways, bridges and tunnels to make them suitable for gigaliners would cost some €5.4 billion. Asfinag has also expressed its concern over the safety issues surrounding these vehicles due

In the US state of Texas, work is in hand to build new bridges carrying US-281 over the Colorado River at Marble Falls. The Texas Department of Transportation has set a budget of close to US$30 million to replace the existing Lake Marble Falls Bridge with two new bridges.

A fresh set of problems has hit the long planned Messina Straits Bridge in Italy.

In a surprise move the Turkish authorities have now cancelled the tender process for the construction of the third Bosphorus Bridge and the Kuzey Marmara highway. The process was cancelled as there were no bidders.

Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon has inaugurated the new Baluarte Bridge, which crosses the Baluarte River in the Sierra Madre mountain range in the north of the country. This 1.12km long bridge is 403m high at its central point over the steeply sloping ravine it spans, making it the highest cable-stayed structure in the world.