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New road projects are being planned in Poland, with a further 11 now having gained official approval. Worth some €185.6 million, the projects include the construction of a new ring road around the town of Walcz in the north west of the country. Work on this ring road is expected to commence in 2023 and take until 2025 to complete. Another ring road project being planned is for the resort town of Augustow, in the north east of the country, which should also be completed in 2025.

Kuwait is boosting its spending on infrastructure development works in the Al-Mutlaa area.

A new 18km motorway link is being planned in Thailand that will cost an estimated US$1.2 billion. The highway will be an extension of the existing Don Muang Tollway. This will provide an improved connection between the existing M5 and M6 motorways as well as Nakhon Ratchasima, lying to the north east of capital Bangkok. The tender process for this 18km tollway extension project is expected in 2021, with two contracts being offered. The project is likely to be handled under the PPP model, with actual constru

Chile is planning a series of road improvements that will help boost connectivity. An additional budget of US$150 million has been secured by Chile’s Ministry of Public Works (MOP), in addition to the $1.4 billion already budgeted for road works. Some $2.8 billion worth of road projects are being opened for tender by MOP. These include the Carretera de la Fruta highway and the Ruta Los Vilos-La Serena route.

Construction work is starting on Malaysia’s massive Penang Roads and Tunnels project.

A massive bridge project is being planned for Indonesia that will play a key role in the country’s development of its new capital. Building the 7.35km Balikpapan-North Penajam Paser bridge will provide a connection to Penajam. Constructing the bridge is expected to cost over US$1.02 billion, with work expected to start in 2020. The bridge will be tolled. Serious issues are impacting on Jakarta, with the city suffering heavily from pollution and congestion, as well as its land area sinking. This combination

The rate of road crashes from drink driving remains a serious concern in the UK. In 2017, there were 220 road deaths in the UK attributable to drink driving, according to the latest figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), the same as for the previous year. However, there were 1,110 crashes caused by drink driving, an increase from the 1,010 from the previous year. In all, there were 8,600 deaths and serious injuries from road crashes in 2017, a drop from the 9,040 of the previous year but still hig

A major road upgrade programme is being planned for the Udmurt Republic, part of the Russian Federation. The road system in the Udmurt Republic measures some 17,400km in all. There are also 363 key bridges and overpasses, which measures some 13km in all. However neglect of the links has resulted in 12 of the bridges and overpasses becoming in serious need of repair. The Udmurt Republic Government has set a target for rebuilding 410km of key road links during 2019, as well as addressing issues for some of th

The UAE has seen a significant improvement in road safety during the 2014 to 2018 period. Road deaths dropped 34.2% during this period to 468, while the number of serious crashes fell by 24.1% to 3,712. While vehicle numbers have increased in the 2014 to 2018 period, a combination of factors has helped to lower the casualty rate. Improved road links, traffic control systems and better emergency response systems have helped to reduce the number of road deaths and serious injuries.

Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary have Europe’s most dangerous roads according to official data from Eurostat. In 2017 Romania had 1,951 road deaths while Bulgaria had 682 road deaths and Hungary had 625 road deaths. The EU average for road deaths was 5/100,000 of population in 2017, with a total of 25,257 road deaths during the year. This is a marked drop from the 43,000 road deaths across the EU in 2007.

A series of loans is helping pay for the 11 major road and bridge projects currently underway in Costa Rica. In all the projects involve US$1.13 billion of financing. One of the biggest projects is the $495 million upgrade work being carried out for Ruta 32, between Rio Fri and Limon. Other major projects include the $200 million upgrade for the La Angostura to Limonal route, the $163 million improvement to the Circunvalacion Norte, $66 million for a new flyover in Cartago and $25 million for the Sixaola bi