Road Structures

Major Australia highway project underway in Victoria

December 11, 2015

Work is underway on a major highway project in Victoria State, Australia. Geotechnical work and preliminary surveying is being carried out for the Monash Freeway Upgrade project. In all this project is worth some US$293.66 million (A$400 million). The geotechnical work includes testing of the road surface and stared on the stretch from Berwick-Dadenong North and will continue until late-February 2016. Meanwhile surveying is in progress at various locations along the freeway.

Improving tunneling method selection

December 11, 2015

The tunnelling sector remains one of the most active segments of the construction industry worldwide, fuelling demand for equipment However, there have been issues with the efficiency of the selection process for the most suitable tunnelling method for a project in the past. With this in mind, the Italian hydraulic breaker manufacturer Indeco has been working on a new algorithm that allows a contractor to optimise the tunnelling method selection. The firm said that this system has been developed becau

Refurbishing Heathrow road tunnel

December 11, 2015

A Positioner-Actuator-Manipulator (PAM)machine on hire from UK dealer STM of Tring has been able to cut concrete removal time for Bam Nuttall on its €116.2 million tunnel refurbishment contract at Heathrow Airport. The 18-month contract involves major work on the main and cargo tunnels serving Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in order to comply with the latest European standards and also to extend the life of the tunnels for a further 60 years. As part of the project, some 206m2 of concrete repairs were needed to be

Using breakers to demolish redundant overpass

December 11, 2015

A demolition job in California was carried out successfully using a hydraulic breaker fitted to an excavator. An overpass on Highway 91 in Southern California had to be removed, with the contractor opting to use a hydraulic breaker for the job. The work was carried out within the 22-hour possession period set by the local authorities, allowing the route to reopen to traffic on time and minimising transport delays. The work was carried out safely and precisely, due to the use of suitable equipment. The re

New bridge over China’s Yi River

December 10, 2015

A new bridge has been built in China that now spans the Yi River. A crane from XCMG has played a key role in the work, being used to erect the two 100m-high towers for the structure. The bridge is made from prestressed concrete and is a cable-stayed structure, with two towers providing support for the necessary cables. Building this large bridge required the use of sophisticated technology and the project team opted to use a 100m-high tower crane to help lift key elements of the structure into place. The c

London Thames crossing options planned

December 9, 2015

Plans are being considered for a new road crossing route for the River Thames in London. Transport for London (TfL) has launched a consultation process to evaluate new crossing proposals. The first suggested route would link Beckton and Thamesmead through a link at Gallions Reach, while a second proposed crossing at Belvedere would link Belvedere and Rainham. The consultation is seeking views about potential public transport links for the proposed river crossings in east London.

Highway link for Melbourne, Australia

December 9, 2015

Plans are now well in hand in Australia for the US$4.04 billion Western Distributor Project in Victoria, due for completion in 2022. The project will be built under a new partnership between the Victorian state government and Transurban. The road project is supported by the Victorian Transport Association and will connect the West Gate Freeway to CityLink. The new route will help reduce the numbers of HGVs using the West Gate Bridge and will also upgrade the link to the Port of Melbourne. The project calls

World Bank helping fund Kenya road

December 7, 2015

Funding from the World Bank (WB) will help finance a key Kenyan road project. The US$440.61 million credit line is being provided by the WB to the Kenya National Highways Authority. This will be used for upgrading the Lodwar-Nadapal Road in Kenya. The upgrading will involve construction of bridges, culverts and other drainage facilities.

Sourcing road financing for East Africa’s network expansion

December 4, 2015

East Africa’s ambitious road expansion programme is seeing the network expand significantly – Shem Oirere writes The East Africa countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda have announced ambitious road sector expansion plans in the 2015/16 financial year. This is despite their national budgets being weighed down by huge deficits and persisting lack of capacity to spend resources allocated to the sector in previous years. With the huge budget deficits, the countries will have to look for alternati

Morocco planning series of key road upgrades

December 4, 2015

Morocco is planning to upgrade and widen several of its major road links during 2016. The aim of the works will be to boost capacity as well as to improve stretches of road that suffer from regular flooding or which have an unacceptably high rate of crashes. In all around 825km of roads will be improved by the programme of works, while there are also plans to improve 16 bridges.