Road Structures

Work is progressing in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City for construction of the new Beltway No3. An additional US$128.6 million is being set aside from the city’s budget to speed up work on the highway. The new beltway will measure 90km long, will allow vehicle speeds of up to 100km/h, with from two to four lanes in either direction. The route is being built in four sections. One stretch connects the Trung Luong expressway and National Highway No 22, another links National Highway No 22 and Binh Chuan, one joins

The new contract for Colombia’s Chirajara Bridge project has now been awarded to a consortium, Eiffage-Puentes y Torones. The consortium will handle the design and construction work for the new bridge. The structure will be a replacement for the earlier bridge, which collapsed as its construction was being finalised in January 2018, just a few months before it had been scheduled to open for traffic in March 2018. The collapse of the earlier structure resulted in 10 fatalities as well as causing serious inju

A new route is planned to connect Kazakhstan with the neighbouring Altai Republic in Siberia. The Altai Republic intends to boost tourism in a bid to help develop its economy. During 2017, over 2 million people visited the Altai republic. Meanwhile Kazakhstan is also hoping to increase the numbers of tourists visiting the country every year, hoping to diversify its economy. At the moment the road networks of both countries are rather underdeveloped.

Two road construction contracts have been awarded in Dubai, which will improve connections for the coming Dubai Expo 2020 event. Worth a total of US$171.5 million, the work will be for the final phases of existing projects. The phase 5 deal includes building a total of 3km of roads and 2.6km of bridges while the phase 6 deal including building 8km of roads and 1.4km of bridges. The construction work also includes improving an intersection that links Emirates Road and Jebel Ali-Lehbab Road.

Progress is being made with regard to the proposed Lower Thames Crossing project close to London.

A major UK highway maintenance contract has been won by Balfour Beatty. The seven year deal is worth £103 million and was awarded by Telford and Wrekin Council for the maintenance of highways assets. The package also comes with an option to extend the contract for a further seven years. Balfour Beatty Living Places will work with the Council to maintain the Borough’s 1,002km of highways and 1,189km of footpaths, provide drainage cleansing services as well as winter gritting and reactive highways maintena

Charging facilities for EVs have been proposed for the Illinois Tollway in the US. This is a landmark move as the busy I-924 route would be equipped with recharging capabilities along a 35km stretch, allowing for the future use of EVs along the tolled highway. The project is likely to cost as much as US$4 billion to implement, including studies into the necessary facilities required. The systems may well include lanes featuring the latest inductive charging technology, as well as charging stations.

Vietnam’s Van Don-Mong Cai highway is expected to cost US$471.4 million to construct. The 80km-long highway will be built in Quang Ninh Province in the north of the country. The route will feature two lanes in either direction and the project will be carried out under the build-operate-transfer, PPP model. Construction is expected to take 22 months to complete, with the work being carried out by a joint venture comprising Van Don Sun, Long Van Infrastructure Investment and Development and Cong Thanh

The contracts for a major highway project in Romania have been awarded. The project is for the construction of the highway from Craiova to Pitesti. The Italian contractor, Tirrena Scavi, has a €76 million package of works to build an 18km stretch of the highway. Meanwhile local firms forming part of the Dorinel Umbrarescu Group have a €309 million package of works to build a 40km stretch of the route.

Private investors look likely to win the award of the San Jose to Cartago highway widening project in Costa Rica. The Highway 2 route connecting capital San Jose with Cartago will be widened so that it will carry three lanes in either direction. Feasibility studies into the project are underway and the work has an anticipated pricetag of US$400 million. Highway 2 is an important route for Costa Rica’s economy, which relies heavily on tourism. The route runs eastwards from San Jose to Cartago, then dips in