Road Structures

The Czech government’s road and motorway directorate RSD has reported that thousands of bridges in the country are in a critical state. Nearly 10% or the 5,000 motorway or first-class road bridges are in bad, very bad or emergency condition. The same applies to almost 3,000 bridges on second- and third-class roads. RSD has allocated around €69 million for repairs of bridges at main roads and motorways this year

South African city Johannesburg has a desperate need for road repairs and upgrades. Around US$1.1 billion of road repairs such as pothole filling or resurfacing work is required to bring the network back up to scratch.

Michael Baker International has established a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) to rebuilt a 13km stretch of US Route 49 in the Jackson area. The firm won the US$19.3 million Construction Engineering and Inspection (CE&I) contract in late 2017. Under the terms of the deal, the firm will prioritise safety, communication and efficiency to complete the project.

Work is starting shortly on the construction of a new highway in India’s Rajasthan State. The highway project will be carried out by the contractor GHV (India) and the package of works was awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The work involves building a stretch of the NH-925A route that runs from Gagaria to Baori Kalan and on to Serwa-Bakhasar. This 197km section of NH-925A will form part of the highway from Sata to Gandhav, with the work costing close to US$175 million.

A proposed toll road project for the Indonesian island of Java is now being evaluated. The feasibility study for the project is being carried out by the Priority Infrastructure Preparation Committee (KPPIP). The US$887.3 million project is for the Bawen to Yongjakarta toll road link, running roughly north to south across Central Java. The 71km route has been proposed by Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works and Housing Committee. The route will feature an elevated section.

Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, is developing its road network with a series of projects underway. In the last six months the city authorities have pushed ahead with works to 385km of roads. Around US$231 million has been budgeted for road development work, including building new links and maintaining existing roads. At present Addis Ababa’s road network extends for a total of 5,915km, compared with 5,365km in 2014. Meanwhile 2,616km of the city’s roads are surfaced with asphalt, around 44% of the total n

The French firm Vinci has won the contract for extension works to the highway network in New Zealand capital Auckland. The deal is worth US$515 million and will be handled by Vinci’s New Zealand-based subsidiary HEB Construction. The work will take 36 months to complete and is for a new highway connector section joining the Upper Harbor Highway (State Highway 18) with the Northern Motorway (State Highway 1).