Road Structures

Upgrading work for the I-85 route in South Carolina will be carried out by Lane Construction. The project is worth US$181 million and will see an extra lane being added in either direction to the stretch of the I-85 highway that runs through Cherokee County. This project will provide three lanes in either direction, boosting capacity and cutting congestion at peak periods along the route. In addition to building the extra lanes, the contractor will build a number of new interchanges and sections of link roa

A Chinese firm has won the contract to supply the tunnel boring machine (TBM) for a major road tunnelling project in Bangladesh. The Chinese manufacturer, Tianhe Mechanical Equipment Manufacturing (Tianhe Mechanical), is building the TBM to the specific design requirements of the client. This piece of equipment is the largest TBM built so far in China and tips the scales at 2,200tonnes, while it features a cutter diameter of 12.12m. The TBM will be used to drive a 3.5km-long road tunnel running under the K

A highway project worth US$153.5 million in India’s Tamil Nadu State will be handled by IRB Infrastructure Developers. The same firm will also build a 29km stretch of NH 45A between Viluppuram and Puducherry. A 38km section of NH 45A between Puducherry and Poondiyankuppam meanwhile will be built by Oriental Structural Engineers. These three contracts were all awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

A new timeline has been set for the work to rebuild Russia’s Central Ring Road 4, a project worth US$1.48 billion. The work will now be carried out from the end of 2019 to the end of 2020. The highway is being built by a consortium that comprises the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Avtoban, and the Turkish contractor Makyol.

A new highway project is being planned for India’s Uttar Pradesh State. The US$522.7 million project will see a 100km section of the Hapur Bypass being widened, so that it will feature three lanes in either direction. This section of the route is from Moradabad to Hapur and the work will be carried out by IRB Infrastructure Developers. The contract was awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the build, operate and transfer model.

Bidding is strong for a project to build the new Karavanke tunnel in Slovenia, with the award due soon and construction expected to commence in 2018. So far nine bids have been received for the link, which lies close to Slovenia’s border with Austria. A bid of €89.3 million has been made by the Turkish contractor Cengiz Insaat, while at the other end of the scale a bid of €140 million has come from a partnership of Slovenian firm Pomgrad and Swiss company Marti. A partnership comprising Implenia Österreich

Work looks set to start during 2018 on Taiwan’s new Tamkang Bridge project. The construction is expected to cost in the order of US$429 million, with the work being carried out by the contractor, Kung Sing Engineering, with completion expected in 2020. The project has been split into three phases, constructing a road from the Port of Taipei, building the 920m-long bridge itself and a new road from the bridge to Bali. This last section of the project has already been completed however. Once the entire

A major design contract has been awarded for a key bridge project in India. Consulting engineer COWI has been awarded the contract for the detailed design of the 10.3km Package 1 section of the new link. Meanwhile the Danish consultant Rambøll is to carry out work on the design for the 7.8km Package 2 section of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). The Owner for MTHL is Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) The 22km link will be India's longest sea bridge and is expected to cost around

A finance package has been secured to help pay for the building of Turkmenistan’s Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway project. Worth US$2.4 billion, the financing comes in the shape of a loan and is being provided by the Central Bank of Turkmenistan. The finance package is being provided to the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan under a 20-year loan deal that includes a grace period of five years. The new Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway project will help to improve transport efficiency in

Australia’ Victoria State will see US$$548.5 million ($A711 million) being spent on widening and upgrading the Monash Freeway. This will be the second stage of the Monash Freeway upgrade project, building an additional two lanes. From Clyde to Cardinia, this will give three lanes in either direction while from Warrigal Road to the EastLink, this will deliver five lanes in either direction. The work will boost capacity and cut journey times at peak periods, further assisted by the use of sophisticated