Tunisia is benefiting from key highway expansion

Work is underway in Tunisia on the westbound Highway from capital Tunis towards the Algerian border.

This 60km link will run from the town of Oued Zarga to Boussalem and the work is being carried out by Italian contractor 5482 Todini and local company 6943 Soroubat. The bidding process for the 100km highway from Gabes to Medenine is now being opened, while bidding for the 92km road from Medenine to the Libyan border outpost of Ras Jedir opened in October 2012. Bids for the construction of the 61km of peripheral roads around Tunis to link the south (A1), west (A3) and north (A2) highways will be launched in 2013. This new road will allow traffic crossing the country to avoid having to enter Tunis as at present. This will help reduce journey times for goods transport and also cut congestion in the city. Plans are also being drawn up for the construction of a 370km highway running from Tunis to the city of Tozeur, which will run in diagonal from the North East of Tunisia to the South West.

Work has yet to commence on the planned 50km highway project from the town of Boussalem to the Algerian border. This would link Algeria’s highway network with that of Tunisia. The country’s new government has prioritised development of roads and highways towards the south and southwest of Tunisia. And work on the 150km southbound highway from Sfax (Tunisia’s second city) to Gabes is encountering numerous challenges at present. The new government is facing issues including displaced persons, land confiscations carried out by the previous regime and a number of local social issues.

A 60km section of the North African Highway running through Tunisia was completed in April 2011, despite the problems faced since the country’s revolution. It is 11.75m wide and has shoulders of 1.5m on each side. Some 906,000m3 of earthmoving was carried out and there was also 483,000m² of cold milling. Constructing the asphalt base and asphalt concrete involved laying 110,000m3 of material using a new 1194 Vögele 2100-2 paver. The project also included construction of 40,000m of drainage, the installation of 63km of slipformed concrete barriers, using a new 2395 Wirtgen SP250 and the use of 15,000 plastic road separators.