Road Structures

Namibia is investing in road development with a series of major projects now being targeted. The country has a major need to improve its road system, which does not have sufficient capacity in some urban areas and also suffers from serious safety concerns right across the nation. The country’s road authority will invest close to US$39 million to improve roads in the Oshana, Kavango, Oshikoto and Ohangwena regions. Two roads prioritised for improvement works include the Oshakati-Okahao and Oshakati-Outapi ro

The World Bank looks likely to supply funding that will help pay for a major road improvement project in Nicaragua. The US$75 million loan should be agreed by November 2016, if all goes to plan. The funding will pay for major improvement works for the road connecting Nicaragua’s capital Managua with the country’s second city, Leon. At present the route suffers heavily from congestion at peak periods and is unsuited to the traffic volumes it has to cope with. The construction work is expected to commence in

The D1 motorway tunnel Korbelka in Slovakia is estimated to now cost €278 million, according to a report in Pravda Slovakia. But the chosen 6km route is a safer option than another route alongside the Vah River that would have taken in a potential landslide area. Because of the slide risk, a further €202 million would be needed to shore up the hillside. More work will have to be done to finalise the route, meaning work would not start until likely 2019, according to the report. Slovakia's Transport

Construction work on Serbia’s Ljig-Preljina highway, the Corridor 11 Project, is being delayed. The delay has been caused by complications involving the construction of the tunnel and bridge sections. The construction work is being carried out by the Azerbaijan contractor Azvirt, with local firms carrying out sub-contracting projects. The new route is expected to open around 40 days later than originally expected as a result. Meanwhile the improving political relations between Serbia and its neighbour Ko

Plans are being set out for an important new highway link in the CIS. This new link will connect the M-5 and M-7 highways, close to the city of Ufa and the project is expected to cost US$1.12 billion to carry out. The work will require the construction of a tunnel stretch carrying four traffic lanes, as well as two highway sections and an overpass in the city itself. Ufa is the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, which is part of the CIS. The city is linked to Russia’s capital Moscow by the M-7 highwa

The Czech Republic is planning a major programme of road upgrades. This will target secondary roads in the country, improving road surfaces as well as safety features. Some €155.45 million is being provided by the Czech Ministry for Local Development for the work. Much of the funding is being sourced from EU financing, with the programme of road repair and upgrade works scheduled to take place from August 2016 until October 2022.

Delays are afflicting the official opening of a stretch of the East-West highway in Algeria. This 84km section of the highway connects Dréan in the east of Algerian to the border with neighbouring Tunisia. A Japanese contractor was in charge of the project to construct the 400km eastern stretch of the East-West highway. However financial problems surrounding the need for additional work led to construction of the final stretch being curtailed. There is concern that should the work be left unfinished any lon

The Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) has awarded Poyry detailed engineering planning work for the upgrading of operational and safety equipment in two major tunnels on the A2 motorway. The A2 forms the main north-south motorway in Switzerland, connecting Basel with Chiasso. The Schänzli and Hagnau tunnels have been in operation for four decades and are being completely refurbished. Pöyry has already been handling the structural measures and ventilation systems in the tunnels, said Marcel Winter,

The tender process for Chile’s Cau Cau Bridge rebuilding project is due to be opened in August 2016.