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Road works in the Philippines will benefit from funding being provided by Japan.

Funding worth US$500 million has still to be secured for road works in Paraguay. A consortium, Rutas del Este consortium, requires the financing to carry out the widening and upgrade work to Ruta 2 and Ruta 7. The work will be carried out under the PPP model, the first time this has been utilised in Paraguay. Rutas del Este comprises the contractors Sacyr and Ocho A. The consortium will operate the highway under a 30 year concession.

Work is underway on the M76 dual carriageway project in Hungary, with the first section due for completion in summer 2020. Building the 40km dual carriageway is costing over €523 million. The project includes building a bridge at Balatonszentgyorgy, which is due for completion shortly. When it opens to traffic, the M76 will connect the M7 motorway (the E71 route) with the M74 route at Zalaegerszeg.

The package of works to construct the Pocitelj-Zvirovici stretch of the Corridor VC motorway in Bosnia has been awarded to two Chinese contractors. The 11km stretch of the route will cost nearly €103 million to build. The work will be handled jointly by the Synohydro Power Company and China State Construction Engineering Company. The package of works was awarded by Bosnia’s motorway company, Autoceste Federacije BiH. A portion of the funding required is being provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Approval has been given for the project to build the sixth bridge connecting Thailand with Laos.

A proposed upgrade to the road connecting Costa Rica’s capital San Jose with nearby Cartago has been put forward. The project would cut journey times to just 30 minutes. The current route is known for its traffic delays, handling around 51,000 vehicles/day. The new route would feature a 3.2km section of flyover and the estimated cost is US$400 million. Should the project get the go ahead, work would commence in early 2021 and should take around two years to complete.

Concern is being expressed in the UK over the safety of low noise, electric vehicles. Children and those with poor sight are particularly at risk from electric vehicles, which are much quieter in operation than conventional vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.

Urban road safety is a key problem in Europe, an issue that needs to be addressed as a priority. That is the finding of a new report by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). The ETSC’s report reveals that road deaths on urban roads decreased at around half the rate of those on rural roads over the period 2010-2017. The report also shows that vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, account for 70% of those killed and seriously injured on urban roads. Dovilė Adminaitė-

The use of ALLU Transformer D-Series attachments are helping boost operations for a Swedish firm. The company, Kits Contractor, is using the units for precision screening and material processing applications for a variety of projects, transforming material arising from recycling, blasting and excavating. The firm bought its first ALLU Transformer in 2014 but found that the Transformer was too small for its needs, replacing the unit with an ALLU DN 3-12 model in 2015, which it still owns and operates.

Formwork specialist Paschal is now offering real-time concrete curing measurement using Maturix, a new system developed in Denmark. Am ordinary inexpensive wire is permanently embedded into the concrete during pouring. Concrete strength analysis and monitoring is carried out by wireless radio transmitters – this allows both improved planning and real-time monitoring independent of location and time, according to both companies. The optimal time for dismantling formwork is determined. The user rec

KINSHOFER is introducing the WS Drum Cutter Series. The drum cutters feature an exclusive pick angle and optimal chisel arrangement for high performance and minimal wear, suiting tunnelling, road construction and demolition. Drum cutters are an alternative to hydraulic breakers and the WS-Series are one of the quietest in the industry, suiting them for use in areas with noise restrictions. They also produce less vibration than breakers, so contractors can use them where there is a risk of disturbing a nea

Lindsay, a manufacturer of infrastructure equipment, and Iteris, a manufacturer of applied informatics for transportation, will together create smart work zones for US roadways. The companies said that their partnership supports the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Smarter Work Zone campaign to reduce traffic congestion and improve safety in work zones using intelligent transportation systems. There were 799 work zone-related fatalities in the US in 2017 – up 4.5% from their previous three-year aver

Wirtgen claims that its new W 380 Cri cold recycler is highly sophisticated and productive.

New developments in road recycling and milling will allow contractors to remove old surfaces more quickly and efficiently – Mike Woof reports

While efforts to improve road safety on the Asian continent are finally starting to pay off, the challenge to reduce fatalities remains immense. According to the Asian Development Bank, 60% of the annual 1.2 million fatal traffic injuries take place on Asia’s road network. Many of the contributing factors to this epidemic such as deficient infrastructure, outdated standards, and poor enforcement can be addressed with proper political leadership, well trained agency staff, and knowledge resources. However,

Asphalt paving technology has moved forward another step

The plan to build a bridge linking the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with the Republic of the Congo has stalled once more. The road/rail bridge bridge is intended to provide a better connection between the DRC and the Republic of the Congo. The bridge would be around 4km long and the project was first proposed some years ago and the project to build the structure was restarted in 2017. However it now faces opposition in the DRC from Congo Uni/ABSL. According to this group, building the bridge would

A new bridge is planned to connect Krasnodar in Russia with the Republic of Adygea, part of the Russian Federation. The US$105.1 million project would carry two lanes of traffic in either direction. This would be an alternative to the proposed Yablonovsky Bridge, the project for which has not so far progressed beyond initial plans. Meanwhile, a new bridge has been proposed for Kaliningrad Bay. This project is expected to be worth $615.5 million, with the bridge and its new approach roads measuring around

EvoQuip is holding an open event in North America that will showcase live working demos of its crushing and screening equipment. The manufacturer is co-hosting the event with distributor Emerald Equipment in Bridgewater, New Jersey on July 25-26. Equipment on show will include the Bison 280, Cobra 230 and 230R as well as the entire Colt range. Sean Donaghy, EvoQuip USA sales manager, commented: “EvoQuip are delighted to be working with Emerald Equipment on returning to the USA for a second open even

The project to replace a historic bridge in US capital Washington DC is providing major challenges for its builders - Mike Woof writes