Road Structures

Construction firm Wijaya Karya (Wika) is heading the consortium that will build the Serang-Panimbang toll highway in Indonesia’s Banten province. The 40 year concession package for the US$825.85 million project was awarded to the state-owned construction firm and its two partners by the Toll Road Regulatory Agency. Wika has a 90% stake in the consortium, with the remainder held by its partners, Jababeka and Pembangunan Perumahan, which each have a 5% share. The construction work will be carried out in three

A loan worth US$230 million from the World Bank will help pay for a major highway upgrade in Bolivia. The highway connects San Ignacio de Velasco and San Jose de Chiquitos in Santa Cruz. The funding will pay for the route to be paved with a new surface, which will help deliver lower journey times for road users, as well as improving safety levels. The upgrade to the road will help to increase capacity and will also provide a boost to the local economy in the Santa Cruz area of the country.

Plans in Argentina call for the construction of a major new road tunnel project. Called the Paseo del Bajo, the tunnel will provide an important connection between the existing Illia highway and the highway joining capital Buenos Aires with La Plata. The 6.7km tunnel is costing some US$650 million and intended to carry trucks and buses only, with light traffic remaining on existing surface routes. Removing heavy traffic from existing routes on the surface will help cut congestion, as well as delivering majo

South Korea is planning a series of highway projects, with existing routes to be expanded and new stretches to be built. The country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has set out a programme of works that will run until 2020. The work planned includes widening 10 existing highways as well as constructing a further 13 new highways. Construction of the roads will help to generate 290,000 jobs and deliver an economic benefit to the country expected to reach US$77.35 billion. The South Korean Gov

Hitachi Sumitomo is introducing the new SCX3500-3 crawler crane, which offers a maximum lifting capacity of 350tonnes. The firm says that this hydraulic crane features a compact body, good load handling capabilities, and an advanced transportation and assembly system. It has a high-performance lifting capacity and a short-tail swing radius, which the firm claims is available for the first time in the 350tonne crawler crane class. When selected by the operator, this option ensures that the live mast does not

The UK Government is finalising its plans for the construction of a road tunnel close to the famous Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire. The 2.9km tunnel will carry the A303, a busy road that carries heavy traffic, particularly during the holiday season when large numbers of tourists pass through the area. The existing route passes close to the Stonehenge monument but the road is widely recognised as being unfit for purpose. As well as carrying cars, it handles a high percentage of large trucks, including heav

Uzbekistan has set a budget for road construction and repairs during 2017. The target is to either build or repair 260km of roads. Funding for the work will come from Uzbekistan’s Republican Road Fund. A budget of close to US$500 million will pay for the construction and repair work. The road building and repair activity is considered essential to helping the development of Uzbekistan’s economy.

The tender process is commencing for a US$5 billion contract to construct a bridge and a road network of roads in Turkey. The bridge will span the Dardanelles waterway and the project looks likely to attract strong interest from several major international construction firms. The Çanakkale 1915 Bridge will be located at the western end of the Sea of Marmara, a short distance from Çanakkale. The 3.6km long bridge will feature a main span of 2.023km, making it one of the longest suspension bridges in the worl

From GSSI comes the sophisticated LineTrac GPR system, an accessory to the UtilityScan systems employing either the DF or HS antennas. The LineTrac allows users to detect AC power and induced RF energy present in buried utilities. By combining GPR data with a radio detection sensor, GSSI’s LineTrac accessory is capable of detecting low amplitude AC signals. LineTrac employs a three-axis 50/60 Hz magnetometer that is used to locate powered and non-powered utilities with accurate, dependable and repeat

Plans are being drawn up in Uganda for the upgrading of the Busega-Mpigi highway stretch. Funding worth US$151 million to help pay for the project is being sought from the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is being delivered in the shape of a loan. Busega lies on the eastern outskirts of capital Kampala and upgrading this 24km section of highway is necessary as it is suffers congestion at peak periods and is unable to cope with current traffic demands. Included in the work to improve this section of hi