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China's Inner Mongolia region plans to invest US$10.42 billion (CNY 65 billion) in road construction in 2014. The road projects will span over a combined 15,000km, with highways accounting for 1,990km of that. The seven cities in the west of the region plan to complete a road investment of $6.7 billion (CNY 41 billion), covering a total length of 7,000km. Meanwhile, the earmarked two-year construction of the Beijing section of the Beijing-Taipei Expressway is expected to start within 2014. The 120km/h limi

Trimble is now accepting speaker candidates for the Trimble Dimensions 2014 International User Conference.

Balfour Beatty has been appointed by the Midlands Highways Alliance, a collection of twenty UK local authorities, to the Midlands Highways Alliance Medium Schemes Framework Two (MSF2) which will deliver up to €322.87 million (£261 million) of transport infrastructure over the next three years. Under the framework, the company will deliver the construction of new transport infrastructure schemes such as bridges, roads and public transport schemes such as park and rides, bus stops and bus lanes. Balfour Bea

Hexagon, a leading global provider of design, measurement and visualisation technologies to a wide number of industries, including road construction and mining, has acquired the remaining 90% of shares in North West Geomatics, making the company a fully owned Hexagon subsidiary. North West Geomatics, also known as North West Group (North West), provides high-quality aerial mapping and related spatial data services to engineering and mapping firms, environmental consulting organisations and government agen

Plans for a new crossing for the Kerch Strait are now moving forward. The Russian roads company Avtodor is in charge of the project, which calls for the building of both road and rail connections. As series of options are being considered and in all the work is expected to cost in the region of US$8.2-$10.9 billion. There are eight options being investigated at present, with five looking at bridges to carry both road and rail and a further three for combined connections with bridges for the roads and tunnel

Chinese city Guangzhou is setting plans in motion for an enormous investment in transport infrastructure. A budget of US$25.8 billion is being set out for the infrastructure growth programme, which envisages over 260 major projects. In all, the programme calls for 164 urban road projects as well as 11 highway projects. The new urban road projects will include works to connect with other new infrastructure being planned by the city. Also included are seven port projects and one airport project, as well as 13

The Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure has released details of its plans for road infrastructure projects worth €2 billion by the end of 2016. The ministry aims to increase the efficiency of its road construction programme, compared with the last 10 years. Improving relations with its neighbours means that international links will be upgraded. Both Serbia and its neighbours have made strong efforts to boost ties and cross border transport is expected to grow as the diplomatic tha

Austria’s Arlberg Tunnel is now on track for its planned upgrade. The work will focus on improving safety, in line with European requirements. The twin tube tunnel will benefit from new emergency exists and areas in which broken down vehicles can be parked, as well as sophisticated heat detection technology to provide alerts for vehicle fires and spraying systems. In all the upgrade work is likely to cost some €136 million. The work will be carried out by the PKE-Jäger-BEMO-Hinteregger partnership.

The World Bank is providing a US$133.54 million grant to Yemen. The funds will help pay for construction of the first phase of a 710km long highway. This new road will connect Sa’ada in the north of the country to the port city of Aden. The highway looks likely to be constructed in three phases. The first phase will be for a 140km stretch from Aden to Taiz. The project will cost some $2 billion. Another tranche of financial backing for the project will come from the Saudi Development Fund.

Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam looks set to benefit from 14 infrastructure projects costing a total of US$9.44 billion. One of the key projects will be to improve and repair Luong Dinh Cua Street while another is for the building of the new Ha Noi Expressway-Eastern Ring Road link road. Loan facilities are being provided by the Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Bank (SHB) to Phu My Construction (PMC). The construction programme also includes the Rach Chiec Bridge, five elevated highways and the Southern Ring Road. The

Demolition work is progressing on track on the old Innerbelt Bridge in the US city of Cleveland and spanning the Cuyahoga River. At present a demolition contractor is breaking up the structure in stages, using cutting gear and cranes to remove portions of the bridge in a phased programme of works. Once the demolition moves to a certain stage in a few months, the contractor will then be able to use explosives to demolish the remaining structure. Four of the truss bridge’s nine spans are being dismantled usi

Explosive demolition was used to remove an aged bridge in Kansas City on Saturday 7th June.

Plans are being drawn up for a new highway connection that will help reduce congestion in Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam and improve the city’s connections to the rest of the country. The Tanzanian Government is encouraging proposals for a public-private partnership project. The planned highway would stretch 100km from Dar es Salaam to Chalinze. The proposals are for a six lane highway, with three lanes of traffic in either direction. This project looks likely to be complimentary to th plannede Dar es Sa

A loan being provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will help pay for road upgrades in the Kyrgyz Republic. The money will be used to improve and upgrade the Osh-Batken-Isfana highway. The US$100 million loan is to the Kyrgyz Republic Government for a period of 40 years at 0.25%/year, with a grace period of 10 years.