Road Structures

Three more contracts are due to be awarded for Malaysia’s important Pan Borneo highway project.

Construction work has now commenced on the new expressway route through Kenya’s congested capital, Nairobi. The project has been delayed for nearly a decade but building of the link is now going ahead, an important move in reducing traffic jams in the city. The route will have two traffic lanes in either direction and will feature 10 interchanges, with a considerable portion of the expressway being elevated. It will provide an important connection between the A109 Nairobi to Mombasa route and A104 Nairobi

Work is continuing in the Italian city of Genoa on the massive bridge replacement project. The 50m sections of the new bridge deck are now being raised into place using heavy lifting cranes. The deck sections weigh around 500tonnes apiece and measure 50m long, with 18 of these components being required in all. The bridge replacement work is necessary following the horrific collapse of the old Morandi Bridge during 2018, which involved multiple fatalities. The new bridge was designed by Renzo Piano and the w

A proposal for a European standard covering electric roads has been put forward by SEK Svensk Elstandard, the Swedish organisation for standardisation of the electricity sector. This would include technology for transmitting electrical power to vehicles while they are in motion. However there are questions over the cost of electrifying roads. A trial project has been carried out in Örebro in Sweden. The Swedish power company Eon believes it would cost around €957 million to provide electric power to 1,000k

The tender process has been run in El Salvador for the feasibility study and design works for an upgrade to the Panamericana route.

Interest is said to be strong for the project to build the Mjøsa bridge and E6 route connecting Moelv with Roterud in Norway. The project includes building a bridge spanning Lake Mjøsa as well as a 9.4km stretch of road. Five consortia have prequalified for the bidding process. The project is worth €262 million and Norway’s state-owned road business Nye Veier is expected to award the contract in the second quarter of 2020, with planned to commence in the first quarter of 2021.

A report has been released regarding the project to build the fourth bridge spanning the Panama Canal. The report concerns the awarding of the design and construction contract and reveals that there may be an increase in building costs over original estimates due to geotechnical requirements. The report also says that such large capital projects should be split into two, one covering feasibility studies and design work and the second for construction and maintenance. The bridge project is being handled by t

In Russia the contractor Primorsky UPK is to construct a highway connecting Primorsk with the A-181 Skandinavia Highway. The 42km highway is expected to cust US$375.3 million to build and should be ready for traffic by 2022. The contract also includes rebuilding a stretch of the existing Primorskoe Highway. Another portion of the work will be to build a 74m overpass over the Primorskoe Highway and the rail link connecting Primorsk to Ermilovo.