News

Two of China’s provinces, Shanxi and Sichuan, have announced plans to invest in infrastructure expansion. Shanxi Province has plans to invest US$3.44 billion in road construction projects during 2014. Seven new highway projects with a total length exceeding 375km will commence in the year. At the same time, 13 projects totalling 842.6km will be completed and open for traffic. Meanwhile in Sichuan Province, some US$11.56 billion will be spent on road projects during 2014. Rural roads measuring 15,000km will

In Macedonia work is now being carried out on two new highway projects. One project is for the construction of a 57km highway between Kiceva and Ohrid and the work is expected to cost €375 million. The construction work is being carried out by the Chinese contractor Sinohydro Corporation, with finance coming from China's Ex-Im Bank. The Kiceva-Ohrid highway project is expected to take four years to complete. The same contractor is also building the 47km Miladinovci-Stip highway in Macedonia, with the €206 m

Brazil has invested US$18.3 billion (43.8 billion reais) on federal highway projects during phase 2 of PAC, the country’s growth acceleration plan, according to the federal government's 9th balance report on PAC 2 works. The report, reviewing phase 2's first three years (2011-13) of the four-year programme, states that work was carried out on 3,080km of highway stretches and highlights a number of projects completed last year. Among them was the BR-376 near southern Paraná state's Maringá city, the BR-448

The Algerian Minister for Public Works, Farouk Chiali, has said that the 1,000km-long Hauts-Plateaux motorway project will begin this month, with the cost of constructing the route reaching US$8.94 billion (DZD 700 billion). Chiali said local firms will carry out the works exclusively, with the project having been divided into ten sections. Each section, requiring 36 months of work, will be attributed to a different consortium of Algerian firms. If work begins on each section at the same time, the project

China Merchants Holdings (International) Company and China Merchants Hua Jian Highway Investment Company have Sri Lankan government approval to build and operate an expressway from the capital, Colombo, to the central part of the country. With the recently won approval, both companies would plan, design, finance, build and operate the first section of the US$4.5 billion Northern Expressway system. The $1.5 billion first section of the expressway will be built in four stages, namely from Ambepussa to Kandy

Ukravtodor state highway agency is to invest €547.96 million (UAH 6.7 billion) in road construction and repair in Ukraine in 2014. The agency secured the sum via bond placement in 2012-2013.

Upgrade work looks set to commence on the Scandinavia Highway at the end of 2014. The design work for three of the highway stretches has been completed and preparatory work has commenced on the first section. The design work for the fourth and fifth sections will commence once the upgrade work is underway on the first, second and third stretches. The project is due for completion in 2019 and will see the highway being improved and widened, with three lanes in either direction along its length. The work also

Spanish firm OHL is investing heavily in developing its business operations in Mexico. The firm’s Mexican subsidiary, OHL México, is looking to invest as much as US$1.5 billion in new concessions over the next two years, according to a report from Business News Americas. The firm is keen to win new toll road concessions in Mexico, such as the coming Atizapán-Atlacomulco highway tender. OHL México currently has a stake in the Supervía Poetas tollroad in Mexico City as well as a series of tollroad concessions

New research identifies Venezuela as having the most dangerous roads in Latin America. This comes from a study by the University of Michigan (UM), which shows Venezuela to have the highest risk of car crash fatalities for a Latin American country, according to a report by Business News Americas. The study showed that Venezuela has 35 road deaths/100,000 population. The Dominican Republic has 32 road deaths/100,000 population, El Salvador has 29/100,000, Brazil has 22/100,000, Paraguay has 20/100,000, Ecuado

Drivers on a busy route in the US city of Fort Lauderdale had an unwelcome surprise when a building was demolished just a short distance away. The structure was brought crashing down just 23m from the busy A1A road link. The local authorities however had provided no warning that the demolition work would occur. A change in the work methods used resulted in the old Howard Johnson hotel being quickly demolished, generating a large cloud of dust that obscured visibility for drivers on the route. Both drivers a

The final phase of the Nebraska Bridge demolition has now been carried out successfully. The work went according to plan, despite low temperature conditions and a blizzard on the night before the planned blast. The poor weather did not prevent this last phase of the bridge demolition, located at Rulo in Nebraska. In spite of temperatures well below freezing, the charges placed in the final section of the bridge were detonated and the structure fell into the Missouri River.

Isolux has won a contract to construct and exploit a 34km stretch of highway between Bloomington and Martinsville on Interstate 69 (section 5), which crosses Indiana state in the US. The company becomes the fourth Spanish infrastructure group to have a presence in the US highway market. The exploitation of the highway will be for 35 years, under the terms of the deal, which will involve an investment of around US$325 million. Isolux had been competing against three offers from the infrastructure funds Meri

Leighton Asia, India and Offshore has secured a contract worth US$408.14 million to construct the tunnel buildings, systems and fitting out works associated with the Central - Wanchai Bypass (CWB) tunnel in Hong Kong. This is the third project to be awarded to Leighton on the Central - Wanchai Bypass (CWB) project by the HKSAR's Highways Department, following the award of the 2010 contract for the construction of the Central Interchange and the Central Reclamation Phase III in 2009.