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The completion of work on Colombia’s troubled tunnel project is now finally in sight. A new contractor will be selected by Colombia's National Road Institute (Invias) to complete the last section of work required on the La Linea Tunnel. The winner of the tender process will be announced on 13th June 2017. An additional US$50 million is being budgeted by the Colombian authorities to complete the work. It is expected that in all, finishing the project will cost $86.6 million. Work still to be carried out incl

The Liebherr Group reports strong financial results for 2016, with a turnover of €9.01 billion. The firm managed to achieve this performance in a difficult market environment, the third-highest turnover in the group's history. Compared to the record year of 2015, this represents a decrease of €228 million or 2.5% however. The firm says that there were marked differences in business performance in the individual sales regions. In Western Europe, Liebherr's most important sales region, turnover increased. Thi

Construction work on the Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO) highway in Chile should start soon. This will commence once the environmental impact assessment has been completed. There has been a delay as the environmental impact assessment into the first section of the highway was halted. Allegations were made concerning irregularities over this portion of the work.

The Sir Ambrose Shea lift bridge has received a transportation award of merit. The structure was designed by Parsons and has been given the 2017 Transportation Award of Merit from the Consulting Engineers of Ontario (CEO). As sole prime consultant, Parsons also provided project management and engineering services during construction. Located on the Avalon Peninsula in the town of Placentia, NL, the Sir Ambrose Shea Lift Bridge provides a connection while supporting the region’s commercial fishing industry.

Poland’s highways directorate, GDDKiA, says 12 bids have been received for construction of the second section of the S7 dual carriageway. The 15km section will run from the Lesznowola junction to the Tarczyn Polnoc junction. Metrostav submitted the highest offer at €118 million, while the cheapest offer came from a consortium of Porr Polska Infrastructure and Porr Bau. Other bidders include others, Budimex, Intercor and Polaqua.

A new road and viaduct project will be built in Myanmar. The plans call for the new viaduct to run parallel to the existing Gokteik viaduct. In addition the project will also include the construction of a new bypass road. The project is being overseen by the Myanmar Government and is worth US$120 million, with work due to start shortly. The project will be developed by Oriental Consultant and is envisaged as a build, operate and transfer agreement.

Planning work for Chile’s Chacao Bridge project is underway at present. The new suspension bridge will provide a link to Chiloe Island and will be the longest structure of its type in Latin America when complete. Because of the risk of major earthquakes in the area, the bridge has to be constructed to cope with substantial shocks. The project is being handled by the Consorcio Puente Chacao consortium and has been in the design phase since February 2014. Chile’s Ministry for Public Works wants to ensure that

The government of Finland’s autonomous Åland will build a 0.5km bridge to connect the islands of Degerö with Gripö, according to the newspaper Nya Aland. Work will also include improvements to the harbour in the town of Fogla on Degero and a new road on Gripo. Around €40 million will be needed for the work.

A recent survey by Sweden’s National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen) shows that the Transport Administration (Trafikverket) needs better data to make road maintenance more cost effective. There is a lack of data on the type of road damage and to what sections of road, according to a report in the daily Svenska Dagbladet. But the National Audit Office also noted that the administration is underfunded, making it less likely that maintenance would be done at the best price for the taxpayer and in a timely fashio

Electric drive machines could represent the future for the construction and extraction industries. This is the finding of a new new report from IDTechEx Research. Titled Electric Vehicles for Construction, Agriculture and Mining 2017-2027, the report predicts that electric vehicles for the construction and extraction and agriculture sectors would represent a $81 billion market by 2027. Major manufacturers such as Caterpillar, John Deere and Komatsu are currently building hybrid machines while other smaller

Ethiopia’s road development programme is continuing. Nearly 1,200km of roads have been built in the country in the nine months to the end of the fiscal year at the start of April 2017. Local firms accounted for nearly 610km of road construction according to the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA). Meanwhile the remaining 590km or so of road construction was carried out by foreign construction firms. The country’s road building programme is still underway with close to 130 projects being carried out. These proje

A loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) will fund work on a highway project in Nicaragua’s capital Managua. The US$136 million financing package was secured by the Nicaraguan Government. This will be used to improve and widen the Pista Juan Pablo II highway, boosting capacity and reducing congestion at peak periods, as well as improving safety for drivers. The work involves widening the route so that it has three lanes in either direction, as well as building five flyovers, installing drainage, cycli

Work on New Zealand’s State Highway 3 will see upgrades to improve capacity and s well as safety. The country’s Ministry of Transport has unveiled a government plan to spend US$94.46 million (NZ$135 million) on the project. The upgrades for State Highway 3 form part of New Zealand’s Accelerated Regional Roading Programme. Meanwhile further planning work has been required to the Mount Messenger bypass before a preferred option for the project can be confirmed. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is curre

Florida’s road safety record is giving cause for concern. The stretch of US Highway 1 running through Florida has been identified as having the worst road crash record of any highway in the US. Analysis shows that there have been 1,079 fatal crashes in the last 10 years on the road, which runs for 872km through 13 counties in Florida. Other highways in the US known to have poor records for road safety include US 83 in Texas, US 140 in California, Interstate 40 in Arizona, and US 18 in South Dakota. For US 1