News

Poland’s Zachodniopomorskie province has given the go-ahead to the consortium set up by Dragados and Polaqua to start construction of a section of the S6. A deal was done in October 2015 for work on the 24km section of the dual carriageway between Kielpino and Kolobrzeg. The cost is estimated to be nearly €105 million. Meanwhile, a section of the S19 express road - between Slawinek junction and the northern part of the Lublin city ring road – was opened this month. Budimex built the 10km stretch in so

Completion of the R2 in south central Slovakia between the towns of Zvolenska Slatina and Pstrusa will be delayed until May, local media report. The 7.8km project, including seven bridges, is worth €82.3 million and is being carried out by the consortium of construction companies Chemkostav IS and Corsan Corviam Construccion. When finished the R2 will stretch around 305km from east to west.

As World Highways celebrates its 25-year anniversary this month, we thought that it would be a good moment to take a step back and look at the exciting times we live and work in, and pick out a few of the game-changing new products, technologies and services that have brought about so much innovation in our industry over the past quarter of a century. Where will these new ways of thinking and working take us next? The global highways market has been transformed in the lifetime of World Highways by high-v

The authorities in Croatia are pushing ahead with plans for the Peljeski bridge project. The country’s Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure will apply for funding for the project from the EU, although further hurdles have yet to be cleared. Construction of the 2.4km bridge is expected to cost €373.8 million. Bids for construction of the access roads have already been placed. The bridge is intended to connect the Croatian peninsula of Pelješac to the Croatian mainland. The link would run through Cro

A concession agreement has been signed for the construction and operation of a section of the Khabarovsk Bypass. The deal has been agreed between VIS Group subsidiary Regional Concession Company and the Khabarovsk Region’s Government. The project is expected to cost US$633.5 million, with a portion of the funding being provided jointly by state and federal infrastructure budgets. The remainder of the funding will be delivered in the form of a loan from Gazprombank. Once the full funding has been delivered,

A series of new road projects are planned for the Philippines. The plans call for new road and bridge links to improve transport connections between the capital Manila and the country’s second city, Luzon. One of the most important road links will be the 17.3km connection from the Subic container terminals to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), avoiding the congested Freeport area. Another important project is for a 65km expressway connecting Subic Freeport to the country’s capital. Plans are also be

Plans are being developed in Australia for a major highway connection in Melbourne. Some US$7.45 billion (A$10 billion) is being planned by the Victoria State Government to fund the construction, with this being delivered through state rather than federal sources. However a final decision will not be made on the project until 2018, after the next local elections. If the project does get the final go ahead it will connect the Metropolitan Ring Road and the Eastern Freeway.

A feasibility study is planned to evaluate a project to construct a new causeway connecting Saudi Arabia with Bahrain.

Work is pushing ahead with the construction of the Corridor 10 and Corridor 11 highway projects in Serbia. Sections of the highway projects will be opened to traffic in 2017. All of Corridor 10 will be ready for use while the Obrenovac to Preljina stretch of Corridor 11 will open. Other road projects will commence including links running through Moravski and Fruskogorski. The Serbian Government doubled its infrastructure spending to €608.14 million for 2016, with a substantial portion being provided through

Colombia’s capital Bogota looks set to gain from key road projects, with te country’s National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) unveiling detailed plans for upcoming works. Plans are being worked on for the widening of the 53km road linking Los Andes and Cajica with the construction of an extra lane. This is a US$$156.56 million project and will be funded by private sources. The pre-feasibility study for the Autopista Norte road extension has already passed the approval stage and this project will also be funded

Further progress is being made with the Agua Negra Tunnel project, which will connect Chile with Argentina. A loan worth US$40 million is being provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). This loan will help deliver the bidding process for the project. Several bidders are being pre-qualified for the tender process. Construction of the tunnel itself is expected to take eight ant a half years with the work estimated to cost $1.6 billion. The tunnel will provide a safer and more reliable route than

Construction work is underway on India’s Bogibeel Bridge, which will span the Brahmaputra River. When complete the bridge is expected to come with a price tag of US$746.8 million. The new bridge will provide both road and rail links over the Brahmaputra River and is expected to open to traffic in March 2018. The novel design features an upper deck with three traffic lanes for road vehicles as well as a lower deck carrying twin rail lines. Measuring 4.9km long, the bridge will be the longest in India carryin

Infrastructure engineering firm WS Atkins sold its stake in London’s M25 orbital road to a consortium of institutional investors for nearly €79 million (£66.3 million). Atkins, a publicly listed UK company, sold to Edge Orbital Holdings 2 Limited and the deal for its minority stake is expected to be complete by March 2017, the end of the financial year, according to a statement by Atkins. In October, the Edge Orbital consortium picked up Skanska’s 40% stake in Connect Plus, which manages the M25. Skanska so

The authorities in Paraguay are devising plans to upgrade a 500km stretch of the important Rute 9 highway. The plans are being drawn up by the Paraguay Road Chamber (Cavialpa) and will be presented to the country’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC). Should the plans then be accepted, this will allow the improvement works for Ruta 9, also known as Transchaco, to go ahead. The entire upgrade project is expected to cost in the region of US$450 million and should take around three years to comp

Construction will commence in April 2017 on a new road tunnel link in Karlsruhe. Austrian contractor STRABAG has an 84% stake in the consortium, which also includes Schleith, building the link. Civil design is being handled by Ed Züblin meanwhile. The new Kriegsstraße vehicle tunnel in Karlsruhe will carry two lanes of road traffic underground, while providing a surface connection for trams, pedestrians and cyclists. The tunnel construction forms part of the wider Kombilösung public transport infrastructure