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Thailand’s Highways Department is asking the country’s interim military government to decide on a planned US$2.59 billion highway project. The four-lane highway runs along a 196km route, connecting Bang Pa-in in Ayutthaya to Nakhon Ratchasima via Saraburi. The Highways Department wants to include the project in the eight-year strategic infrastructure development plan put forward by the military government. The project could be partly funded from the 2015-2016 budget as well as through loans and a joint publ

Plans are in hand in Paraguay for the new Carmelo Peralta-Pozo Hondo highway stretch. This route lies in the country’s Chaco region and is expected to cost in the region of US$500 million to construct. Spanish contractor Ohl-Sato has shown strong interest in the work to build the new Carmelo Peralta-Pozo Hondo road. The firm does have experience of projects of this type. The route revamp is required to help regional connectivity.

In Hungary the national infrastructure development company, NIF, says that a new stretch of the M0 orbital between the number 1 road and the number 10 road will not to be constructed before 2020. An environmental permit for the project is expected to be granted in the second half of 2016. The new stretch will feature two lanes in both directions and will be 18km long. A budget for the project has yet to be announced.

The Indonesian Government is aiming to start work on 16 major infrastructure projects before October 2014. These include the development of Cilamaya Port and its access road at a cost of US$1.25 billion, the Kertajajati and Soekarno-Hatta airport projects and five toll road projects. The toll roads include the Balikpapan-Samarinda connection, the Palu-Parigi link, the Manado-Bitung Toll, the Cibitung-Cilincing road and the Trans Sumatra tolled highway. The Public Works Ministry is offering tenders valued at

Turkey has plans to construct 1,470 new bridges by 2023. This follows on from a previous bridge building programme that saw 1,635 bridges built between 2003 and 2013. The country also repaired and maintained 717 bridges in this time period, as well as renovating 124 historical bridges. At present Turkey has some 7,600 bridges measuring a total length of 428km in all. The 10 year bridge building programme between 2003 and 2013 saw a 37% increase in the total length of the country’s bridges to 311km in all. A

Bechtel and its joint-venture partner Enka have won a contract to build a 60km highway connecting Kosovo’s capital Pristina with neighbouring Macedonia. The new Route 6 highway will help improve Kosovo’s transport links, a highly important factor for the future economic development of this small, landlocked nation. Bechtel-Enka previously constructed Kosovo’s Route 7 highway, which was completed in November 2013, a whole year ahead of schedule. The Route 7 highway with Morina on the Albanian border through

Plans are once more being put forward for a new bridge spanning the River Thames in East London. The proposed structure is expected to cost in the region of €750 million (£600 million) to build and has been designed by Arup and HOK. The campaign for the new bridge is being led by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), which says that there is a desperate need for an additional crossing. The campaign group also has the support of City Airport, which lies on the north side of the Thames and would

A major highway connection project located in Tampa, Florida has won a 2014 Outstanding Project Award from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers (FICE). The link was opened in January 2014 and was engineered by designer Atkins. The 1.6km-long I-4/Selmon Connector links I-4 with the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway. The US$425 million Connector now carries over 24,000 vehicles/day, which includes some 2,000 heavy vehicles/day. With the construction of the

LiuGong Europe now has a new website platform that is said to be more convenient easier to use. The new site allows is said to offer increased usability, allowing users to easily navigate through LiuGong’s European product line while offering in-depth machine details. Each product category – including by group, range, operating weight, emissions, net power and more – helps users locate and learn about specific machines. A news section has been added to the platform to allow a greater insight into the lates

The Latin America and Caribbean Region suffers from a high number of crashes on rural roads and also in the urban areas. Road crashes are now one of the leading causes of death in the region, especially for those aged 5-44. There are around 100,000 reported road fatalities/year in Latin America and the Caribbean while over 5 million/year are injured. Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that the death and serious injury rates are 10-20 times higher than in other industrialised regions, highli

Chinese Construction Company (CCCC) has won contracts to build roads, a bridge and an interchange in Ethiopia. In all the deal is worth some US$132.5 million. The contract was awarded to CCCC by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA). A key portion of the contract is for the construction of a new bridge spanning the Omo River. The deal also includes designing the Omo Kuraz sugar factory, as well as building a new interchange that will link the plant to the road network.

A series of new road and bridge projects worth some US$186 million will help connectivity in New Zealand. The plans include studies for three projects in Bays of Plenty, Hawkes Bany and Nelson. Other planned projects include the Nelson southern link, Rotorua eastern arterial and a Port of Napier access package. The programme includes work on the construction of five road projects as well as building a number of bridges. This programme of works is in addition to plans for work on regional roads.

The Spanish construction firm Ferrovial is to handle a US$655 million contract in North Carolina. The 50 year concession package is for the I-77 highway. Under the terms of the package, Ferrovial’s subsidiary Cintra will improve and upgrade the I-77 highway in Charlotte.

What a mother should tell you - image courtesy of World Highways reader Bogdan Schiteanu

The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has put out an “urgent” call for “EU Member States to prioritise road maintenance” as neglected surfaces continue to deteriorate and the potholes grow larger and larger. ERF wants the EU to “put alternative financing mechanisms into place” as soon as possible, to tackle what it sees as a growing road safety crisis across the region. At its first ERF biennial Symposium on Road Infrastructure Challenges in June, more than 100 stakeholders heard the ERF demand the “ope