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Upgrade work is now underway on the B9 Isiolo to Mandera route connecting Kenya with neighbouring Somalia and Ethiopia.

A new road improvement project is being carried out in Indonesia. This calls for the resurfacing of a key road on Kalimantan Island. The project is expected to cost US$257.4 million to carry out in all and is due for completion in 2024. This route extends some 1,920km in all, so the work is being carried out in a series of stages. The work also includes improving 12 bridges.

The Manila-Cavite Expressway could be extended following a new proposal from Cavitex Infrastructure. This would see the route being lengthened from Kawit to connect with Tanza, running through Noveleta and Sanglely. Building Segment 5 of this route would cost an estimated US$553 million. Should the proposal get the go ahead from the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), the construction work would commence in 2021.

Gabon is working on plans to upgrade road links by providing asphalt surfacing.

Colas and Tarmac are among the winning contractors being placed on a €313 million framework deal for highways planned maintenance in Liverpool, England. The four-year framework is divided into three lots and is available to local governments in the greater Liverpool City area in northwest England. Suppliers for Lot 1 (works under €559,000) are Huyton Asphalt, Dyer and Butler, King Construction, Dowhigh, Aggregate Industries and Colas. Lot 2 suppliers (works from €279,000 to €6.7 million) are Huyton

Ecuador is opening the tender process for nine transport links during the 2019-2020 period.

Eastern Russia holds considerable potential for the development of transport infrastructure projects.

The consortium Veenix, which includes Macquarie Capital, FCC, Count & Cooper and Siemens, will widen a 1.3km section of the A9 motorway in the Netherlands. The losing consortium has not appealed against the open tender decision for the contract which Rijkswaterstaat – the Dutch infrastructure and water authority – says will be around €808 million. There are no Dutch companies in the Veenix consortium.

Aggregate Industries has opened its second ready mix concrete plant in Greater Manchester, England. The company says the move has been made to cater to rapidly growing demand in the area. The new high-capacity site – located just off the M56 in Wythenshawe – is situated between Manchester city centre and Manchester Airport. Aggregates Industries says both areas are currently undergoing a high volume of significant improvement works that require an extensive amount of concrete, including the constructi

Driver distraction is an increasing concern for the road safety sector. According to the FIA Region 2 (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), a distraction time of just two seconds is sufficient to cause a crash. The FIA’s data suggests that to 25% of road crashes are due to distraction, with 25-30% of total driving time spent on distracting activities. Commissioner Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport, recently warned against distraction caused by the use of mobile phone. She said, “Distraction

Doosan Bobcat has opened its first manufacturing facility in India. The factory is located in Tamil Nadu state, on the outskirts of Chennai. Representing an investment of US$26 million, the 10.5ha site has an annual production capacity of 8000 units. It is an integrated facility with fabrication, warehouse, assembly and paint shop all under one roof and will initially be manufacturing Bobcat backhoe loaders completely designed and developed by the Engineering team based in Chennai. This is a new addition t

Funding has been secured to help pay for an important road project connecting Hungary with neighbouring Slovakia. The EU is supplying €552.6 million, which will be used to improve the motorway that connects Hungary’s industrial city Miskolc with Tornyosnémeti, lying on the border with Slovakia. The work will include widening a 60km stretch of the existing route and constructing 48 new bridges. Construction is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2022. The project is being financed through the EU’

A new highway project is being planned to improve transport links to and from Russia’s capital, Moscow. The 16km route will connect Vinogradovo, Boltino and Tarasovka featuring two lanes in either direction. The link will feature six bridges and overpasses and is expected to carry from 24,600-33,800 vehicles/day. The route will be managed by the Fourth Concession Company following an agreement with the Gazprom Bank. Construction should be complete by 2022, with the project worth over US$375 million and the

A new highway measuring 75km is planned for China’s Hebei Province. An 8km stretch of the route will be built by Shandong Luqiao Construction. The project for the Xiong'an New Area-Beijing highway is complex due to the terrain. Shandong Luqiao Construction will build the SG4 stretch of the route. This section of the route has a contract value close to US$208 million and involves building six bridge sections within a two year period.

Financing is being provided to pay for works to 700km of the important Route 7 road in Argentina.

India’s highway construction programme will require nearly US$257 billion in financing over the next five years. That is the key statement from a report published by KPMG, titled Roads and Highways Sector - Current Trends and Future Road Map. India has set targets for building some 60,000km of new highways over the next five years. KPMG’s estimate for financing is the figure it believes India will require to achieve its road building target. Various different financing methods will be required however, with

Design issues were the cause of problems with Chile’s Cau Cau bridge, not construction.

Route reviews are being carried out for a key Polish project. Poland’s highways authority, GDDKiA, is analysing the four potential routes for the S10 road, which will connect with Warsaw’s outer ring road, itself still to be completed. The different routes have estimated costs ranging from €5.34 billion to €5.99 billion and all connect with the A1, though at different intersections. Financing for the work should be secured by 2020, with tendering expected in 2025 and construction due to commence in 2026.

Solesbee’s, part of Kinshofer, is offering its series of manual and hydraulic excavator thumbs for any size and model excavator. The thumbs allow operators to move from one application to another, such as moving dirt or material, without changing attachments. This versatility is said to increase efficiency for a variety of applications, including land clearing, site preparation, demolition and recycling. Solesbee’s says that it engineers its thumbs with efficiency and safety in mind. The company work

Brokk is now offering its own line of hydraulic breakers. The new Brokk Hydraulic Breaker (BHB) series suits use with the company’s range of remote-controlled demolition robots. These are extra heavy-duty units that are said to offer high demolition performance. The BHB series includes eight breaker models, starting with the 50kg BHB 55 breaker for the compact Brokk 60 remote-controlled demolition machine. The range goes all the way up to the 700kg BHB 705 for the recently introduced Brokk 500 and Brokk 52