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Up to 25% of fatal road crashes in the UK are caused by drowsy driving. This is the result of research carried out jointly by the AA Charitable Trust. The research suggests that men and young drivers are most likely to be at risk from drowsy driving. Meanwhile the research shows that 13% of UK drivers admit falling asleep at the wheel. And 37% say they have been so tired they have been scared they would fall asleep when driving. The latest road casualty statistics show drowsy drivers contributed to 53 fat

Slovakia’s motorway company NDS and the Transport Ministry have agreed a subsidy of nearly €204 million for a D1 section. The EU will cover 85% of the project cost, while the remaining 15% will be covered by the government for construction the 14.5km D1 motorway between Budimir and Bidovce, near the city of Kosice. The section, being built by Skanska for almost €237 million, is on schedule for completion by the end of 2019. The stretch will be part of the eastern by-pass of Kosice and in Budimir it wi

Montenegro has spent €198 million on road maintenance and construction in the past five years, according to Mirsad Ibrahimovic, director of the Directorate for State Roads. The government also announced this past summer that construction of the Bar-Bolijare highway is being accelerated. China Roads and Bridges Company is the main contractor the Podgoric-to-Matesevo stretch, with work set to remain within the €194 million budget.

Construction equipment sales in Italy jumped 22% year on year to reach 9,615 units over the first nine months of 2018. Sales of earthmoving machines were up 23% to 9,281 units. Around 5% of sales – 334 machines - was for road machines, according to Unacea, Italy’. "The positive trend of sales on the Italian market continues also in the third quarter,” said Antonio Strati, Unacea councillor in charge of the statistics activities. “However, it should be remembered that in term of units, 2018 sales st

A new highway connecting Kenya’s port of Mombasa with Nigeria’s commercial centre and main port of Lagos has been put forward by a special envoy to the African Union. The Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, was recently appointed to the post of special envoy to the African Union and announced the plan for a new transport connection between Mombasa and Lagos. This 6,000km route would provide an important economic link between two of Africa’s main ports. Although most of the route between Mombasa and

A new road project worth US$440 million is going ahead in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei west area. The project is for a six-lane road and the new link will be constructed by a consortium comprising SK Engineering & Construction Co (SK E&C) and local firm Build King Construction. Work is now starting and the package of works is expected to take 84 months to complete. The contract was awarded to the consortium by Hong Kong’s Highways Department.

Delays to the project to construct Chile’s Chacao Bridge mean that an additional two years may be required for the work. The work is now being carried out solely by a consortium, Consorcio Puente Chacao, headed by the South Korean contractor Hyundai.

A major road project is being carried out in Cambodia to improve the transport link between the capital Phnom Penh and the port of Sihanoukville in Preah Sihanouk Province. Work on the 190km road project will cost in the region of US$1.9 billion and should take four years to complete. The road will be built as an expressway and will run alongside the existing National Road 4, which is also to benefit from $110 million of improvements. The new expressway is being constructed by the Chinese contractor China R

A series of road projects are to be carried out in Russia’s Irkutsk Region in Siberia during 2019. The plans call for 175km of roads to be rebuilt in 2019, with the budget for the work set at US$105 million. This represents a substantial gain in road repairs over the 2018 plan, for which the budget has been just $60 million. For the 2019-2024 period, a road repair plan of $1.32 billion is being set for the Irkutsk Region.

A joint venture comprising Shapir Engineering and Impresa Pizzarotti has been awarded the franchise for Israel’s Highway 16. The deal is worth some US$275.6 million and involves building and operating the route over a 25-year concession. The package of works was awarded to the joint venture by the Israeli Government and the work involves building a 5km link that will join the existing Highway 1 with Jerusalem’s southern and western suburbs. The project also includes building two tunnels and three interchang

Steady progress is being seen in Indonesia with regard to the construction of its major toll roads. A series of key routes are expected to start operations by the end of 2018. Banten’s Merak Port should be linked to the trans-Java toll road by the end of 2018. The target for the end of 2018 is for 941km of toll roads to have been completed, while the target for the end of 2019 is for 1,852km of toll roads to have been completed. The Pemalang to Batang, Ciawi to Sukabumi, Pejagalan to Pemalang and Surakarta

The Minnesota Highway 24 Bridge spanning the Mississippi River at Clearwater is not a major structure. However, it does play a key role as the 376.4m-long bridge links US Highway 10 and Interstate 94. These routes run parallel on opposite sides of the Mississippi River and connect St Cloud to Minneapolis. There was a need to replace the old bridge, built in the 1950s, as it has been designated functionally obsolete, while it featured a restricted maximum load of 36.3tonnes. The price tag to demolish and

Machines from BOMAG have played an important role in the rebuilding of an important road link in Tunisia

A proposal has been made to extend a key stretch of Russia’s high speed highway network. The highway connecting Moscow to Kazan would be upgraded and also extended in a bid to improve transport and cut journey times. A new highway section would run from Kazan, in the Volga Region, to Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, with planning already underway. The project also calls for a new highway running from Kazan to Samara to the south. This route will bypass Togliatta and will include the construction of a new bridg

A bridge located in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, is facing calls for its demolition. Concern has been expressed over the condition of the Hlavka Bridge, which spans the Vltava River. The bridge carries heavy vehicle traffic as well as trams and is one of the city’s major transport arteries. It was built originally from 1909 to 1912, replacing an earlier wooden structure. It was then rebuilt so as to cope with vehicle traffic and at present carries up to 100,000 vehicles/day, making it one of the b

Construction of a new bridge spanning the Newman River is being planned for the city of Grodno in Belarus. The plans call for a former rail bridge to be adapted to carry motor vehicles, as well as building new interchanges and connecting roads to existing roads. The project is expected to cost close to US$174 million, with a portion of the funding possibly being provided by China. The work will require a connection to the M6 highway as well as the R99 road. Further work for the city includes a new bypass an

Plans are being drawn up for the link that will connect Mexico City International Airport (AICM) with Santa Lucia airfield. The new link between the terminals will be some 30km long. Various options are being considered, including an extension to the existing Viaducto Bicentenario highway and Chamapa-Circuito Exterior Mexiquense distributor road. A bus link with dedicated lanes and a light rail system are both being considered. The upgraded infrastructure to connect the two is expected to come with a price

A new road upgrade project is intended to improve traffic flow in Qatar, reducing delays at peak periods for drivers. Costing nearly US$165 million the Al Wakrah Main Road improvement project will see the 9.2km link being widened, boosting capacity to 6,000 vehicles/hour in either direction. The work involves building four new intersections, improving the existing roundabouts and constructing a new stretch of tunnel. In addition, provision for cyclists and pedestrians will be added. To further optimise tran

Two new bridges are planned to connect Brazil and Paraguay. The new bridges are intended to improve trade and transport between the two countries. One of the bridges will be built to span the Parana River and link the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguacu in Parana State with the Paraguayan city of Puerto Presidente Franco. The other bridge will span the Paraguay River and link Porto Mustinho in Brazil’s Matto Grosso State with the Paraguayan city of Carmelo Peralta.

A series of major toll road projects are being planned for Indonesia.