Road Structures

Slovak national motorway company NDS plans to start the reconstruction and modernisation of the D1 motorway section between Bratislava and Trnava in H2 2014. As part of the near €150 million project, the current six-lane motorway will be extended by adding an emergency lane. The building works are expected to last 24 months and will include demolition and reconstruction of some of the existing road bridges, as well as construction of new ones. The motorway lanes will be extended from the current 3.5m to 3.

A road and underwater tunnel project linking Dachanwan Tollgate with Yueliangwan Boulevard in Shenzhen city, China will be completed in 2015. Shenzhen's first underwater tunnel will cost around US$403.04 million (CNY 2.49 billion) to build (EUR 289.41mn USD 403.04mn). It will span 1.3km in Qinghai Bay. As part of the project, renovations will be conducted on a section of Yueliangwan Boulevard. The renovation works on the 4.4km highway section are scheduled for completion in July 2014.

The authorities in Paraguay are planning a bridge project that will improve connections in its border area with neighbouring Argentina. The project forms part of a US$170 million plan for infrastructure projects in the border area between Argentina and Paraguay. Other works include a new port terminal in Pilar and improvements to the Alberdi-Pilar highway. The majority of the funding will be directed towards work on the Remanso Bridge and the road section that connects with the port of Falcon.

The European Union is to help finance studies for the northern border section of the Ionian Highway in Greece. Some €1.56 million is being provided through the TEN-T Programme to help pay for a series of studies required to prepare for the project’s tender process. The studies will cost some €3.12 million in all and related to a 46km stretch of highway connecting the Egnatia Odos-Ionian Highway interchange and Kakavia.The initiative was selected for funding under the 2012 TEN-T Annual Call and includes carr

Interest is said to be strong for a key highway project in Nepal. The project to build the US$1.02 billion Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track route has attracted interest from China in the shape of the China Infrastructure Investment Corporation (CIIC) and from India with Reliance Infrastructure, and Shapoorji Pallonji. The 76km highway will commence at Khokana and connect capital Kathmandu with Nijgadh. Should CIIC win the deal it has said it will source funding from China’s Exim Bank. The project has been hit by

The Mexican authorities have set out further details on the country’s ongoing infrastructure development plans. Mexico's Transport and Communications Secretariat (SCT) will commence the call for proposals process for highway projects worth a total of US$2.11 billion. The projects include the Paso Express de Cuernavaca, Tuxpan-Tampico highway, Ciudad Obrego by-pass and Barretal by-pass. They also include widening the Tlalpan and Puebla routes. Around $4.366 billion will be invested in roads in Mexico during

Plans for a major new bridge project have been given the go-ahead by the Chinese Government. The project calls for the construction of a second bridge spanning Hangzhou Bay. The new bridge will provide a more direct connection between the economically important cities of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai. The project looks likely to cost in the region of US$2.95 billion to construct, including the connecting roads. The bridge will shorten the travel distance between the cities from 200-160km.

A major plan for infrastructure is being put forward for Chile. Chile's Construction chamber (CChC) has presented a plan for some US$40 billion in infrastructure improvements to the new Chilean Government. The CChC has highlighted the concession model as being the most effective tool for encouraging private investment in infrastructure. The CChC suggests that Chile has a critical need for infrastructure development, but a serious shortfall of public funds according to a report by Business News Americas. Roa

Proposals have been put forward for a tunnel link in Bulgaria that would be Europe’s longest. The 37km long twin tube tunnel would form part of Bulgaria’s Struma Highway, which runs 150km from Dakalovo to the Greek border. The tunnel option has been proposed largely due to environmental reasons. The route of the highway takes it through the area of the Kresna Gorge but on both environmental and technical grounds, building the road on the surface is out of the question and the best solution is to construct a

Roads and other infrastructure in the Mexican state of Michoacan will benefit from an US$827.84 million (MXN 11 billion) investment, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT). The huge cash injection includes funds for seven motorway projects worth over MXN 4.7 billion. The Subsecretary for Infrastructure, Raul Murrieta Cummings, has revealed that the expansion of Arco Norte and the western Morelia bypass are also among the earmarked investment projects, as are the Zitacuaro-