Road Structures

The World Bank is providing funding to Vietnam to upgrade road and bridge links, as well as flood control and sanitation. The Local Bridge Construction and Road Asset Management operation is worth $385 million. It will improve access to roads, while transport costs for road users in participating provinces will be decreased. A total of 2,174 small bridges will be built or rebuilt to boost links to isolated and impoverished communities in 50 provinces across the country. This project will be worth $245.5

The tender process is underway in Turkey for a major tunnel project. The package of works is for the planning, project and engineering design for a new three-storey underwater tunnel that is planned for Turkey’s commercial centre, Istanbul. Named the Big Istanbul Tunnel, the route is expected to run under the Bosporus. The tunnel is anticipated to feature two storeys carrying vehicle traffic, with a third carrying a rail link. This would cut journey times to just 14 minutes. The engineering work is expected

The tender process has been held in Turkey for the construction of connection roads for Istanbul's third bridge spanning the Bosporus. The focus of the road project will be the construction of the 170km Kurtkoy-Akyazi highway. In all eight groups submitted bids, including Cengiz Insaat-Limak Insaat joint-venture (JV), Makyol Insaat, Kolin Insaat-Kalyon Insaat-Hasen Yapi JV, Tekfen Insaat-Dogus Insaat JV, Nurol Insaat-Ozaltin Insaat-Fernas Insaat-Ozgun Insaat JV, STFA Holding- Gulsan Insaat- Yapi Merkezi JV,

Romania’s road network is developing to meet demand. Data from country’s National Institute of Statistics (INS) reveals that the total length of highways in the country grew by 9.4%, or by 64km, in 2015 compared to 2014. Meanwhile highways now account for 4.2% of the total length of Romania’s road routes. At the end of 2015, public roads totalled 86,080km, of which 17,606km, or 20.5% of the total, were national roads, 35,316km, or 41%, were county roads and up to 33,158km, or 38.5%, were communal roads.

Poland has set out an ambitious programme for road development to expand its network. The programme of works is running from 2014-2023. The country’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) has revealed that some 157 tenders have so far been announced within the National Road Construction Programme during this time period. The projects involve the construction of around 2,089km of roads. The total value of this work is around €15.67 billion. So far around 90 of the tenders have resulte

Funding has been secured for a major highway project in Pakistan. Some US$100 million is being provided by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for work on Pakistan’s M-4 Motorway project. The investment will take the form of co-financing for the Shorkot-Khanewal section of this major road project. AIIB is based in China and has commented that there is major potential in Pakistan for infrastructure development.

Work on the Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway in New Zealand is running ahead of schedule. As a result, the section of this major highway project now looks likely to open early. The Huntly section of this US$319.55 million (NZ$458 million project extends for 15.2km. After eight months of construction activity the work is now further ahead than originally expected. This section of the Waikato Expressway project now looks likely to open in December 2019. It was originally expected to be open in March 2

A Mexican firm has been awarded a major highway concession package in the country. Promotora y Operadora de Infraestructura (Pinfra) will build, operate and maintain La Raza-Indios Verdes-Santa Clara motorway for a 30-year concession. The package of works was awarded by the Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT). Pinfra’s offer was for a US$376.12 million deal for the implementation of the 10km route. This stretch of highway is expected to carry 50,000 vehicles/day. However, the offer

Major highway projects have been given approval in India. The work is worth some US$667.12 million in all. The projects are for new highways in Himachal State and Uttar Pradesh State. The new highways have been approved as part of the fourth stage of India’s National Highways Development Project. The first of these new highways will see land being acquired, along with rehabilitation and resettlement plus the construction of a total of 128km of roads. This includes the main highway itself plus the access roa

A number of major bridge projects in Chile are now delayed.