News

Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) Board of Directors has approved a US$140 million two-phased contract award to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure (BBII) to design and build the Southeast Rail Extension. Design will begin during the fall with construction expected to start in spring 2016. The Southeast Rail Extension will build an additional 2.3 miles of light rail on the existing Southeast Rail Line south of Lincoln. When complete it will include an end-of-line station at RidgeGate Parkway,

Ecuador's Transport and Public Works Ministry will receive proposals for a 95km motorway between El Oro and Guayas provinces this month. Seven firms are reportedly interested in building the motorway under a 30-year concession and work could start by the end of the year, according to a report in the Telegrafo newspaper. The motorway will have three toll booths that each will charge US$1.50. (EUR 1.37) each. The winner will operate the concession for 30 years. The road will have a length of 95kms. The c

Work could begin in November on a 4km section of the Circunvalacion Norte northern ring road around the Costa Rican capital city San Jose. The section will connect the Pan-American Highway with Route 32. But delays in agreeing land expropriation have hindered the start of work.

XCMG is developing its overseas activities with a programme called 'One Belt, One Road'. Representatives from 18 countries recently travelled to XCMG’s headquarters in China to launch the firm’s new Overseas Service Activity. This is focusing particularly on service support for customers involved in the New Silk Road project.

The Colombian Government has approved the country's eighth public-private partnership (PPP) to transform the Bogota-Girardot route into a six-lane highway. The project will require an investment of some US$596.6 million. Colombia’s Transport Ministry says that the project will improve road connectivity between the capital and Buenaventura. The work will require maintenance, restoration and improvement works over a distance of some 146km. Construction work on the project as well as the Circunvalar de la Pros

Indonesia’s state-owned toll operator, Jasa Marge, is bidding for two major toll road projects. The toll road operating concessions are for the Balikpapan-Samarinda and Manado-Bitung routes. The 99m Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road will connect capital Jakarta with East Kalimantan province. By 2018, the 39km Manado-Bitung toll road will run between the western and eastern parts of North Sulawesi. Jasa Marga has also found the financing necessary to fund the Medan-Kuala Namu-Tebing Tinggi toll road in Deli

St Petersburg Committee’s for Transport Infrastructure Development (KRTI) is setting out a strategy for road infrastructure development. The KRTI says that the city’s road network will be extended from 3,350 to 3,510 km in the 2015-2020 period. Meanwhile the KRTI also hopes to improve the condition of the city’s roads. At present around 30% of the city’s roads are in a poor state but the plans call for this to be reduced to 15% by 202 following the introduction of better road maintenance planning. A major p

Colombia’s National Infrastructure Agency (ANI), has awarded a consortium led by Spanish construction firm, Sacyr, a contract for work on the Pasto to Rumichaca highway. The route lies near Colombia’s border with Ecuador. This project forms part of the second wave of 4G road concessions being awarded. A second carriageway will be built for 80km between Ipiales and Catumbuco, with six road intersections, 2.6km of tunnels and 1.5km of bridges, pontoons and viaducts. The SAC 4G consortium comprises Sacyr and H

Caterpillar is setting up a regional training centre in Dubai. This new technical and sales training centre will be used to support more than 7,000 Cat dealer technicians in the Africa and Middle East (AME) Region. The company is investing over US$7 million in the facility, which will cover an area of about 1,700m2 and employ 40 personnel. Most of the team will be high-level technical staff who will primarily be recruited from the region. The facility will help support the technicians at AME Cat dealer

Russia is setting out its budget plans for transport infrastructure investment. In all a healthy US$43.92 billion is being planned for transport infrastructure development in Russia during the 2016-2018 period. This will be used to maintain and repair existing routes as well as to develop new links. Road projects figure highly in the spending although investments will also be made into rail and air transportation.

Uganda is requesting a loan worth some US$145 million from the World Bank. The loan has been recommended by the Ugandan Parliament. Provided by the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), the funding will help pay for Uganda’s the road connectivity development project. This will focus on work in the country’s Albertine Region districts over a five-year period. The road connectivity development project will boost access to infrastructure and help develop the economy of the Albertine Region.

Bertha, one of the world’s largest tunnelling machines will resume work underneath the US city of Seattle in November, nearly two years after breaking down. Bertha, at 17.4m diameter, began her journey in July 2013. She was boring a path to relocate a 3.2km stretch of the elevated State Route 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct, built between 1949 and 1953 and which carries around 100,000 vehicles daily. The elevated section will be moved underground allowing the creation of public space along Seattle’s downtown w

Pan-European moves to tackle drink driving reveal that many still take to the wheel while over the limit for alcohol. The results from week-long operation to address drink driving run in June show that there were 16,497 alcohol offences from 1,104,879 breath tests in 26 countries. One in 66 drivers tested was over the limit in this year’s operation, compared with one in 63 last year and one in 59 in 2013. In addition, 2,752 drug offences were recorded, while over 2,516 other crimes were also detected during

The Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Housing is setting out development plans for East Indonesia. The infrastructure works will include building roads and bridges, with a projected budget of US$931.2 million. One of the main projects will be for the completion of the Trans Papua route, which should be ready for traffic by 2018. The 900km Trans Papua project will run through Merauke to Jayapura, Nabire, Manokwari and Sorong. Some $447 million will be spent developing infrastructure in Papua while a fu

In Paraguay the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) in Paraguay plans to spend US$750 million on road repairs and construction. The work will be carried out in Alto Parana. This includes the country’s Export Corridor (Corredor de Exportacion) between Natalio and Pdte. The work includes work to the second bridge with Brazil, expansion of Ruta 7 on the Tape Pora section, recovery of the motorway between Katute-Ciudad del Este and the rehabilitation of Ruta 6, amongst other schemes. Expansion of