Road Structures

A new highway project will help mobility in East Africa. The 172km route through Kenya will be upgraded following the loan of US$228 million by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB). The route forms part of the Sirari Corridor that connects Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan and is an important highway for transport and trade in East Africa. The upgrade work will also include improvements to 77km of secondary roads, as well as public transport facilities in the area.

Peru's Transport Ministry has announced a series of new road concession deals in the country. One of the key concessions approved is for the road between Ica and Arequipa along the Panamericana Sur highway. Another concession due to be awarded is for section four of Longitudinal de la Sierra high connecting Huancayo and Abancay.

A major highway upgrade project in Azerbaijan is receiving fuding from the World Bank. Under the terms of the deal the World Bank has approved financing worth US$140 million for the widening of the Baku-Shamakhi highway. The highway will be widened to four lanes, increasing capacity.

A flyover has collapsed in the Indian city of Kolkata. Reports from the local press suggest 14 fatalities and upwards of 150 people being trapped in the wreckage. The Times of India reports that the flyover was under construction at the time of its collapse and the reason for the structural failure has yet to be determined. The flyover is located in a densely populated area in the north of the city and the death toll looks likely to climb.

A new tolled bridge link is planned to connect the US states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The structure will carry traffic on Interstate 95 and span the Delaware River. Construction work for the new bridge is expected to begin next year and take four years to complete, with the new tolled link is expected to open to traffic during 2019. The new crossing will replace the ageing Scudder’s Falls Bridge and this wider and safer structure is expected to cost around US$334 million. The toll charges have yet to

Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications says that work on the Suhua Highway improvement project should go ahead as planned. The construction work on the project is expected to be carried out from 2017 to 2019. The revamped highway will improve connections between Hualien county and Yilan county. The construction work is costing in the region of US$1.51 billion to carry out.