Road Structures

Balfour Beatty has demolished a farm access bridge over the M8 motorway between junctions 4 and 5 to enable the completion of slip roads for the new Heartlands junction in West Lothian, Scotland. The demolition of Cowhill Bridge is a major milestone for Ecosse Regeneration in the construction of Junction 4a. Using ten excavators equipped with hydraulic breakers and munching attachments, the four span composite construction bridge was successfully removed during a recent 10-hour night time closure of the M8.

In Australia, UBS Infrastructure Fund, Access Capital and Queensland Motorways are reported as heading the bidders' shortlist for the Clem Jones Tunnel of RiverCity. RiverCity's receiver KordaMentha and sell-side adviser Goldman Sachs have ushered through several shortlisted bidders through to the second round. The Clem Jones Tunnel was secured against RiverCity's debt pile of US$1.37 billion (AUD 1.50bn). It is thought that the road may be sold for around $550.3 million (AUD 600mn). Clem Jones Tunnel is sa

Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) is to head a consortium building the lateral towers, aprons and suspension cables for the new Bosporus crossing in Turkey. Hyundai E&C will work in a consortium with its partner SK Engineering & Construction on the US$697 million project to construct the 2.16km Third Bosporus Bridge. This suspension bridge will feature eight lanes for motor vehicle traffic as well as two rail lines. With a width of 59m it will be the widest bridge in the world that carries a

The Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC) today said that the previously scheduled Labor Day (2 Sep) opening of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been postponed. News of the delayed opening was announced at the same time as TBPOC released its investigative report into the 32 bolts that broke on the Bay Bridge in March 2013, and its review of other bolts on the bridge. The contractor now forecasts that the steel saddle retrofit of the failed bolts on the east pier will b

Progress is being made in Indonesia with regard to the Sunda Strait Bridge project. Construction work is expected to start shortly and the cost of the project has been estimated at some US$10.6 billion.

A programme of road maintenance and general upgrades will improve road links in Mozambique’s Tete Province. The scheme will see work worth around US$187 million carried out on some 700km of roads by Estradas do Zambeze. The company has a 30 year concession deal for the roads in Tete Province.

Chile’s congested capital Santiago is set to benefit from the construction of a key route that will help reduce journey times and improve traffic flow, particularly at peak periods. The tender process will open shortly for the Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO) highway in Santiago, a 9.3km highway connection that will include the construction of a tunnel under the San Cristobal area.

A new bridge spanning the River Ntem will provide a link between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The bridge will form part of the 159km Kribi-Campo-Bata road and its construction follows an agreement between the governments of the two neighbouring nations. Some 77km of the road is in Cameroon and 82km is in Equatorial Guinea. The entire road and bridge project is expected to boost trade and economic activity.