Road Structures

To massive TBNMs for a road project in Melbourne, Australia have been named. The TBMs weigh 4,000tonnes each and will be called Vida and Bella, in honour of suffragette and social reformer Vida Goldstein, and the first woman to graduate from an Australian university, Bella Guerin. The machines will start work shortly on the West Gate Tunnel project. The new tunnel link will provide an alternative for drivers to the West Gate Bridge and will help reduce congestion and travel times for drivers.

A highway widening project will be carried out on the route connecting Mumbai with Vadodara in India. A 23.4km stretch of the highway will be widened so that it features four lanes in either direction. A finance package worth US$ 132.5 million has been secured to help carry out the project and the work will be handled by IRB Infrastructure Developers (IRB Infra). In addition the National Highway Authority of India will also contribute to the project.

A highway widening project will be carried out on the route connecting Mumbai with Vadodara in India. A 23.4km stretch of the highway will be widened so that it features four lanes in either direction. A finance package worth US$ 132.5 million has been secured to help carry out the project and the work will be handled by IRB Infrastructure Developers (IRB Infra). In addition the National Highway Authority of India will also contribute to the project.

A new expressway project is due to commence in China in early 2019. The work is expected to cost US$1.37 billion and involves upgrading the Meiguan Expressway. The work will be carried out over an 8km stretch between the Qinghu Flyover and Meilin Tollgate. The work involves work to 25 tunnels and eight interchange flyovers, as well as a number of pedestrian underpasses and footbridges. The project is planned to utilise the latest 3D and BIM software technology.

A major road revamp project is being planned in Russia. The approach routes to the new bridge connecting with Crimea will be improved, boosting capacity, safety and traffic flow. The project will run as part of a series of transport upgrades in the Krasnodar Region, running until 2024 and worth a total of US$1.3 billion. A 136km stretch of the 150km stretch of highway between Krasnodar and Temryuk will be improved, in a bid to meet the anticipated jump in traffic from around 10,000-20,000 vehicles/day at

The Jambatan Bridge project in Malaysia now looks to be revived. The project to construct the 1.4km bridge was first proposed in 2003 but progress then stalled. However new proposals have been put forward for the project, which would replace the existing Johor Causeway. The new link would provide an improved transport connection between Malaysia and Singapore.

The first phase of a major road upgrade project in Dubai has opened to traffic. The project to improve the Latifa bint Hamdan Street and Umm Al Sheef Street routes is worth nearly US$218 million. The second phase of the project should be complete in the first quarter of 2019. Once the work is finished it should lower journey times between Al Khalil Road and Sheikh Zayed Road, two of the most important highway arteries in Dubai. The project includes the construction of two bridge sections measuring a total

Construction work is underway on stretch of the D11 highway connecting Hradec Kralove and Smirice in the northern Czech Republic. The work is being carried out by a construction consortium comprising contractors Eurovia, Metrostav and Swietelsky. However, the start of the work for the 15.5km highway section was delayed and its completion is timed for 2022. The project is costing €100.5 million and includes a number of engineering challenges due to the complexity of the terrain. In all the work will include

A new electric road is being proposed for Sweden. The stretch of road would feature advanced charging technology. Two locations are being considered, a 4km stretch linking Östercentrum and Visby Airport on Gotland and a 1.4km section close to Almedalan. The section of road would feature the latest inductive charging system, so that EVs would be able to recharge wirelessly. The project is being managed by the Transport Administration (Trafikverket), with the participation of the electrified road consortium,

Controversy surrounds proposals to improve a key road link in Panama. The plan is to widen and improve the Panamerican highway stretch in the country’s Panama Oueste Province, between Las Americas bridge and Arraijan. The work is expected to cost in the region of US$335.5 million. However there is concern over the 91ha of forest that will have to be cut down, of which 50ha lies in a national park. Various groups have criticised the Ministry of Public Works for choosing a road alignment that requires forest