Road Structures

Odebrecht has been awarded a concession for Brazil’s important BR-163 federal highway route. The 851km section of highway runs through Mato Grosso state and the deal is worth some US$2 billion, according to a report by Business News Americas. As part of its contract, Odebrecht will have to widen a 454km stretch of the route within five years and is also required to build nine new toll booths.

A consortium comprising Vinci-Bouyges has a contract worth some US$1.63 billion for construction of a new coastal road in La Réunion. However the French firm Eiffage TP is contesting the deal and claims that the project cannot be carried by two major firms that have joined together to carry out the work. According to Eiffage TP, a consortium must be justified for either economic or technical reasons. The project is going ahead despite opposition from the National Council for the Protection of Nature (CNPN).

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) ARTBA is forecasting moderate growth in 2014 for the US transportation infrastructure market. According to ARTBA, the overall US transportation infrastructure construction market will grow five percent from US$129 billion this year to $135.8 billion in 2014. ARTBA’s chief economist, Dr Alison Premo Black, said the market would be led by expected double-digit growth in airport runway and terminal work and a 6% increase in bridge and tunnel const

A new agreement on funding has been struck between Ethiopia and the European Union. The deal will see the EU providing some US$ 287 million in the form of a development grant, to be used for an array of projects in the country. In all $66.56 million of the funding will be used for road construction, with the rest of the grant being aimed at improving health and protecting the country from drought.

Interest is strong in the project to build the 14km tunnel link between Chile and Argentina, with reports stating that 23 firms having expressed an interest in the work. The twin tube tunnel will connect Argentina’s San Juan Province with Chile’s Coquimbo Province (Region IV) and will be constructed in the Andes Mountains. The Agua Negra project is set to cost somewhere in the range from US$800 million to $1 billion, although the exact price of the project has yet to be determined. Some 72% of the link will

Construction of Vietnam’s US$1.4 billion Da Nang-Quang Ngai expressway is now underway. The near 140km-long expressway will have four lanes and a speed limit of 120km/hour. It will link economic hubs like Dung Quat (Quang Ngai), Da Nang-Chu Lai (Quang Nam) and Nhon Hoi (Binh Dinh). The expressway will also have a monitoring centre, a maintenance centre and a service centre. The Vietnamese government, the World Bank and the Japan International Co-operation Agency have provided official development assistan

The government of Oman has approved 13 road projects costing US$1.39 billion (OMR 535.5 million). Fidrichi Sterling and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) received deals worth $344.51 million (OMR 132.6 million) and $352.05 million (OMR 135.61 million) respectively to build the fifth and fourth package of Al Batinah Expressway. Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) won a $321.91 million (OMR 124 million) contract to build the 45km sixth package of the same key Expressway.

The Pennsylvania state Senate has approved a transport funding bill worth US$2.3 billion to restore ageing bridges and highways, and to improve mass transit throughout the U.S. state. The funding will be allocated for all transport modes, covering roads that cross rivers and streams, superhighways, gravel roads, seaports, airports, bike paths and rail lines. Of the total funding, $1.65 billion is set aside for repairing roads and bridges, while around $475 million is allocated for mass transit systems.