Road Structures

A major tunnel project in Australia is facing a serious delay due to slow progress between the construction firms and construction unions. The US$4.73 billion (A$6.7 billion) project for the West Gate Tunnel will provide an imporoved link between the West Gate Freeway and the CityLink, reducing congestion and cutting journey times for drivers.

Mexico’s Puebla State is to benefit from strong spending on road development work during 2019. Two major road projects will be carried out at a combined cost of US$159.4 million. One of the projects is for the development of the Izucar de Matamoros-Acatlan de Osorio road.

A major programme of road repairs has been set in Honduras. The new road infrastructure plan is for the 2018-2022 period and aims to improve and upgrade 96% of the country’s existing network. At present a mere 4% of the country’s 16,412km road network is considered satisfactory.

Mozambique’s new suspension bridge connecting Maputo with Catembe is now open to traffic. The suspension bridge is the longest of its type in Africa, measuring almost 3km-long and surpassing the previous holder of this accolade, the Mapati Bridge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new bridge spans Maputo Bay and forms part of a new highway connection running from Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, all the way to the border with South Africa. The route will be of major benefit for Mozambique, helping to boo

A new bridge is planned between the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Funding has been sourced in the shape of a loan for a key highway project in Uganda. The project is for the upgrading of the 95m route between Kampala and Jinja and a loan of US$229.5 million is being provided. The loan is being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB). In all however the project is expected to cost $1.5 billion. The expressway is an important route for Uganda and will for part of the route connecting the country with Kenya, running through its capital Nairobi to its port of Mombasa.

The budget has been set at US$693 million for the Zimbabwe’s highway running between Harare, Masvingo and Beibridge.

Work to improve a major highway connection in Paraguay has been delayed, but will be completed shortly. A consortium, Rutas del Este, is carrying out the work to improve the stretch of Ruta 2 from San Lorenzo to Ypacaraí. The consortium is headed by contractor Sacyr and has been carrying out the work for the PPP deal to upgrade the Ruta 2 and Ruta 7 highways between Ypacarai and Pastoreo.

A new highway link is being planned for the Russian city of Krasnodar, which is expected to be ready for traffic in six years. The route will stretch 36km and connect the Kuban Stadium in the centre of the city with the M4 highway running around the outskirts. The project is expected to cost around US$340 million to construct. However, the route has still to be fully determined and the local authorities are opening tendering for the $1.42 million contract to handle the design and survey work. This new highw

An important road widening project is to go ahead in Costa Rica, part of a wider plan to upgrade the important Highway 1 route between Canas and Barranca. This contract will see the improvement of the 25km road connecting San Gerardo de Chomes and Barrancas, with work due to start in early 2019. The project is costing US$103.4 million and the package of works was awarded to the Chinese contractor, Power Construction Corporation of China. The contract is one of three to upgrade the 70km stretch of the import