News

A new road tunnel in Nepal will provide a key transport link from the country’s capital, Kathmandu. The 2.5km tunnel will be Nepal’s first and should help cut traffic congestion in the Thankot Pass, which lies to the west of the capital.

A new link for Morroco’s road network will connect the port of Kénitra Atlantique to the country’s motorway system. Morocco’s Ministry of Infrastructure is commissioning a study to analyse the possible routes and feasibility for the new port link.

Euro Auctions reports that it had record sales at its three-day auction at its recently expanded Leeds site in the United Kingdom at the end of August. A total of 4,645 lots went under the hammer at the 10.5 hectare site, achieving over €37 million. More than 40% of sales were placed via the internet, a record for internet sales, said Jonnie Keys, general manager of Euro Auctions.

Poland officially opened the 672km A4 Autostrada that runs through southern Poland from the border with Germany to that with the Ukraine. The motorway passes through major Polish cities including Wrocław, Katowice and Kraków.

Skanska has won a contract with the National Highway Authority (NDS) to extend the 14.4km long motorway D1 in eastern Slovakia. The new motorway will include 23 bridges and four viaducts, along with required noise protection. Another R2/R4 express road will also be extended.

The Czech capital Prague will not have to pay €63 million to construction firm CKD Praha DIZ for cost overruns on the Blanka Tunnel complex. CKD Praha DIZ sought the amount over an alleged rise in costs when completion of the tunnel was delayed, according to a report by Radio Praha.

Colombia's Minister of Transport, Jorge Eduardo Rojas, announced that 13 projects within the framework of 4G – Fourth Generation - road development have reached financial closure.

A 400km road built specifically into the Canada’s isolated but mineral-rich Ring of Fire region could cost between US$204-$443 million, according to a government-funded study. The road, entirely in the province of Ontario, would start in the port of Thunder Bay at the head of the Great Lakes and run northeast to the James Bay area, just south of Hudson Bay.

Time for a taxi ride around New York City, but back in 1928. Sit back and take a cruise, albeit tongue-in-cheek, around some of central New York’s better streets. But look closely. Rail lines were a prominent feature of those wider city streets as cars and trams mixed it along the boulevards, with people happily running between vehicles any which way. The roads surface looked as if there were no wear course, but simply a base course.

Publicly listed construction company Strabag reports “a very positive development” in the first six months of 2016, despite lower group revenue. Consolidated group revenue fell back 8% to €5,312.15 million.

An upgrade of the route connecting Colombia’s capital Bogota with the second city of Medellin is now being considered. The plan would see the route being upgraded to a highway along a 120km stretch of the route, which would feature two lanes of traffic in either direction.

A major programme of road upgrades will help boost transportation in India’s Kerala State. Close to US$190 million will be invested in developing new road links in the state. In all 76 new road links are being planned. Funding is being provided by the Indian Government with the work being overseen by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB).

Concern has been expressed over the rise in road fatalities in the US. An analysis of road crash data has been called for in a bid to identify the primary causes of the increase in road deaths for 2015 compared with the previous year. During 2015 there were 35,092 road deaths in the US, a gain of 7.2% over the previous year. A combination of low fuel prices and a steady increase in the country’s economic activity have been known to be factors in the gain in road deaths. US citizens drove a record total dist

A new transport plan is envisaged for South Korea that involves the construction of a smart highway network. The aim of the programme is to optimise transport efficiency and capacity, with charging facilities for electric vehicles also included in the plans. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport intends to add a further 1,000km of highways to the country’s overall network. Once the new highways are open to traffic South Korea will have a total highway network in excess of 5,100km.

Many manufacturers claim that their machines are “versatile” or “flexible”, even “fast reacting” when working on site. But life shouldn’t be all work and no play.