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An agreement has been reached between Chile and Argentina over a long discussed tunnel project. The proposed tunnel would stretch 11.5km and connect Argentina’s Mendoza Province with Chile’s Region VI, with the project having first been mooted as far back as 1992. The cost of the proposed Paso Las Lenas Tunnel has yet to be revealed although the projected route through the Andes Mountains has been announced. The tunnel portals will be some 2,050m above sea level and the project will include the construction

Slovakia has seen an increase in road crash deaths during 2014 compared with 2013. The country saw fatalities increase from 223 in 2013 to 258 in 2014. However the level of fatalities may be a statistical blip in that reported road crashes actually fell by 300 to 13,286 in all. Particular cause for concern was observed in the Nitra Region, which saw road crash deaths increase a shocking 132% and hit 51, the highest in Slovakia. Meanwhile the Trencin Region recorded the lowest road fatalities. Speeding on th

The cost of the first section of Vietnam’s Bien Hoa-Vung Tau highway, a 47km stretch in the Southern Key Economic Zone, will be around US$355 million. Vietnam’s transport ministry said the total cost of the entire 70km motorway will come in at $1.03 billion. The government considers the zone to be the country’s engine of growth, accounting for 60% of Vietnam’s industrial production by value and 70% of export revenue. The zone consists of eight localities - Ho Chi Minh City (formerly called Saigon), Bi

The occupants of this minibus had a narrow escape from serious injury when a container on the truck in front caught onto an overhanging tree.

The Brazilian state government of Parana has spent around US$1.73 billion on infrastructure projects over the past four years, including roads, railways, airports, ports and public buildings. According to Jose Richa Filho, the state’s infrastructure secretary, more investments will be made by local partners and through international financing. Around $3.63 million for road works between 2015 and 2018 with fund coming from partnerships with Votorantim and Klabin. Votorantim Group is one of the largest

The Czech transport minister has given construction firm Eurovia until April to start repairs on two bridges it built or face having its bank guarantees withdrawn. Transport Minister Dan Tok, who until December was the chief executive of Skanska in the Czech Republic, said he would call for a new tender for the repairs if no action is taken by Eurovia, according to a report by the Czech internet news portal iDNES. Tok said that the road bridges constructed six years ago on the D1 motorway slip road in

Worrying data on road safety has been released from Sweden and Israel. Sweden’s record on road safety is one of the best in the world, with a combination of tough enforcement and stiff penalties along with effective driver education and training having helped lower the country’s fatality rate. However the latest official figures from the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) show that 275 people were killed on Swedish roads in 2014, compared with 260 people in 2013. This may yet prove to be a stat

A major construction programme worth a total of US$2.5 billion is planned for Myanmar. The plans calls for the construction of some 54km of flyovers to be built in the city of Yangon, the country’s former capital. The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has stated that the tender process for the project will be open to local and overseas companies. Private investment in the project is expected, with the tender due in the 2015-2016 financial year. Yangon is Myanmar’s largest city with an estimated popul

A major programme of road upgrades and repairs is planned for Macedonia. The Macedonian Government has announced plans to spend €132 million on improving its road network in 2015. The majority of the funds will be used to upgrade regional roads, which will receive some €124 million of the budget. Meanwhile local road upgrades will receive just €8 million. The plans for the country’s road link to neighbouring Kosovo have yet to be revealed however. The Kosovan Government is pushing ahead with an upgrade of t

Kobelco Construction Machinery is planning to build a new excavator factory in the US. The facility will be located in South Carolina and will become part of the existing US subsidiary, Kobelco Construction Machinery USA (KCMU). With the new facility, the firm’s operations in the US will be reorganised to include production as well as sales. The factory will be built on a 340,000m2 site close to Spartanburg, with production initially focussing on the 20tonne excavator segment and aiming for a capacity of so

Demand for electric vehicles as well as hybrid vehicles looks set to grow in China. The Chinese Government is looking to reduce pollution in major cities, with exhaust emissions known to be a major cause of the problem and electric vehicles in particular being regarded as one of a series of solutions to the issue. However, the Chinese Government now looks set to reduce the subsidies that have been in place to tempt buyers to select electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids, instead of conventional internal com

The latest official data from Japan’s National Police Agency reveals a continued drop in traffic fatalities for 2014. The fatality rate fell to 4,113 in 2014, a drop of 260 from the previous year. This improvement in road safety has been helped by a successful campaign to increase awareness over the use of seatbelts and also on the inherent risks of drink-driving, according to the authorities. Of the fatalities, 227 cases were as a result of drink-driving. A total of 2,193 people aged above 65 years old die

The German Ministry for transport, energy and digital communication, is planning to introduce a series of new public private partnerships for large road projects. These projects are intended to cut congestion and prevent traffic jams on Germany’s roads, which can be blocked at peak periods and particularly during times of vacation. If an additional traffic lane can be made available quickly and sustainably, this will be considered a bonus. Technical or temporary impairments in quality will result in less co

The Danish government said it will create a large port area east of the small town of Rødbyhavn to facilitate construction of the future Fehmarn Belt tunnel link. The US$7.5 billion project is an 18km tunnel including two railway tunnels, two motorway tunnels and an emergency tunnel. Construction start is scheduled for later this year and should take between six and seven years. The tunnel is part of the major infrastructure project called the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link to connect the German island of Fe

Columbia’s National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) will help finance construction of the Toyo tunnel in Antioquia. The tunnel, nearly 10km-long and costing almost US$760, will be part of a new 39km road between Santa Fe de Antioquia and Canasgordas. The central government will contribute $216 million towards the project, the regional government of Antioquia will contribute $337 million and the Medellin government will pitch in with $212 million.