Road Structures

Work on a busy interchange on the UK motorway network is close to completion. The new off-slip has opened at junction 24 of the M1 motorway. The work to upgrade junction 24 and junction 24a is being carried out by contractor Winvic Construction. The new off-slip at junction 24 provides a direct connection from the A50 eastbound to the M1 southbound. The work forms part of SEGRO’s Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) - SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway (EMG) - a ground-breaking

Construction work on the Moracica bridge project in Montenegro is now close to completion. Measuring 960m long, the bridge spans the Moraca River Canyon and is the most complex portion of the 41km first section to be built for the new highway connecting Bar with Boljare. Work on the bridge is expected to be complete by April 2019 and the structure is being built using some 30,000m3 of concrete and 5,200tonnes of reinforcing steel. The tallest of the bridge’s five piers will measure 158.5m in height, with

A further delay now faces construction work on New Zealand’s Southern Corridor improvement project. Completion of the work for the project now looks to be delayed for another year. Construction originally commenced in October 2015. The Southern Motorway project Is intended to improve transport from Papakura to Manukau in Auckland and has a pricetag of US$177.85 million (NZ$268 million).

The contract for Israel’s Road 16 project has been awarded to a partnership between the local firm Shapir Engineering and the Italian company Pizzarotti. Construction work is due to commence in 2019 and is scheduled for completion in 2023, with the work expected to cost US$269.2 million. The Route 16 package of works for the engineering team comprises building a 5km road section that includes two tunnel sections and new interchanges.

The Canada-US Thousand Island Bridge system celebrated its 80th birthday in August with presentations and an open house at its US headquarters. The 33.7km three-bridge system over the St Lawrence River took 16 months to build and was completed 10 weeks ahead of schedule. It runs from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay in the US state of New York to the small town of Ivy Lea in the Canadian province of Ontario. The system connects US Interstate 81 and Canada’s Highway 401, a major motorway between Montre

Two newly constructed bridges in Poland will now have to be demolished. The bridges are on the A1 highway as it passes Czestochowa, part of the ring road around the southern city. The need for the demolition has been highlighted by tests that show the concrete used in the construction of bridges 361 and 362 to be sub-standard.

Plans are being drawn up for the project to drive a new undersea tunnel in Southern China to improve transport links between Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The tunnel itself will be around 1.1km long but the project will also include building a 4.45km stretch of road in the Dachan Bay area and a 2.5km stretch of road in Qianhai.

An upgrade is planned for the National Highway 6, connecting Ghana’s capital Accra with the country’s second city, Kumasi. The work is intended to boost both capacity and safety as the 250km-long route is one of the country’s busiest and is currently heavily congested, while it has a poor safety record. Construction work is expected to commence at the end of 2018 and the upgrade will see the route being widened so that it features two lanes in either direction. A major upgrade has been planned on the

Vietnam is pushing ahead with its road and highway development programme. One crucial project is for the construction of the Ho Chi Minh (HCM) Road project. When complete the route will connect Cao Bang with Ca Mau, with some US$903 million required to finish the work. Around 79% of the 2,744km HCM route is open already, with the road due for completion by 2020. The 98km stretch linking Cam Lo and La Son should be ready in 2019, although work has stopped for the moment on another 289km section of the route

A new road tunnel is planned to connect Poland’s Wollin Island with Usedom Island in Germany. The project is expected to cost €225 million. The project was originally intended to be built by an Italian contractor, however an Austrian firm now looks likely to build the link. The tunnel plans call for a 1.4km link to be constructed using a TBM. The tunnel would replace the ferry service operating at present, improving transport connections for the northern Polish city of Swinoujscie.